Reaping with Sorrow
by SparkyDapperDab19
Summary: Being Betrayed should never be taken lightly. In Jaune Arc's position, he felt as if the world just decided that he would be one of the unfortunate few that truly feel the worst type of betrayal. The type when the ones called friends kick you to your death in the shape of a grim-pool. Now the knight has returned, and with a raging thirst for revenge. Cover art by KegiSpringfield
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: I do not own any of the characters of RWBY or the character(s) of Overwatch that I'm tying into this story. This won't be an official crossover, but one is being made as you read this. This is my first uploaded fanfic and I hope more is to come! As for now… ENJOY!**

Reaping with Sorrow

Ch. 1. A shadow descends

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Jasper, the leader of team JZZY (Jazzy) said as he sprinted through the emerald forest. It was supposed to be a simple search and destroy mission. An outing no less since the school was close enough to the mission area. His team agreed not to do anything too strenuous since one of their teammates Zelda was hurt pretty badly in a training accident. They thought that this would be a good way to bond with each other and make their team stronger as a whole.

That is until everything fell apart.

It started when Jasper's partner Zoe needing privacy to relieve herself as they were resting by the campfire they set up. The minutes past they began to grow worried that she may had encountered grim. There worries were dashed aside for a moment as they saw her silver hair intertwining itself in the shattered moonlight. They ran up to her relieved and asking profusely what took her so long until their relief morphed into terror.

Zoe's intestines were dressed all over the tree in front of her as if she was part of some messed up holiday decoration. She was propped up with her eyelids sliced off so she was forced to see what her insides looked like. She was gasping and chocking on her blood as tears flowed down her face. The expression of terror apparent to the others.

Zelda screamed at this as her Partner Yarshan readied his great sword. Jasper immediately went to his partner and held her close. He was the medic of the team but he had no idea how to treat this. He saw her in a mix of chocking and sobbing as she reached up to his face, brushing his cheek with a bloody handprint as she went limp. Sorrow overwhelmed his entire being as he looked at the mutilated corpse that once was his partner. That sorrow mixed with rage as he pulled out his dual knives and joined the rest of his team. He told his team to sound off to make sure they were okay and he got a response from Zelda. He heard Yarshan about to say something until a deafening gunshot rang in all of their ears. Jasper and Zelda stumbled forward, trying to make the ringing in their ears stop. Jasper recovered first and looked behind him to see what the hell was that noise.

He wished he didn't.

He saw Yarshan standing their dumbfounded and somewhat limp. Jasper then gasped at what really stuck out. And the fact was that the top half of his head was gone. Yarshan's body collapsed as what was left of his head was spilling blood across the grass. Jasper was about to scream at this until he heard another gunshot go off a luckily, he dove out of the way. He looked toward the direction where the noise came from and because of the campfire dimly illuminating the man dawning nothing but black. His overcoat flapped gently as one of the two shotguns he was holding was smoking. His mask made of nothing but bone gazed at the terrified huntsman in training. He growled just a bit and fired again. Jasper winced, bracing for the pain but it never came. He looked to see that his teammate Zelda used her semblance to make a barrier. They were about to sigh in relief until the shrouded man started unleashing a barrage of shells from his dual shotguns. Zelda was doing her best to keep the barrier standing.

"Jasper! Get back to Beacon! Bring back up. Get help! Anyone!" she shouted over the booming gunshots. He was about to protest until he heard the barrier cracking under the fire. He knew that if he just stayed with her they would both end up like the rest of their team. All he did was nod and head straight to the dim lights that signaled as coincidently a beacon for any people that were lost in the emerald forest at night. He sprinted with a frantic expression and he nearly stopped when he heard the ear-piercing scream echo through the woods. Tears began to flow down his face as he picked up his pace. He knew his team was dead. They were all gone in the matter of seconds by that man.

Despite his fear and sorrow overflowing within him, he made it to Beacon. He was in the back of the campus but he made it. He let an exasperated laugh as he fell to his knees. He took in a big breath to let out a cry for help. It wasn't too late and faculty and students would surly hear him. He smiled as he did this because even if his team was gone. He would get help to avenge them.

He was about to let out his cry for help until he heard that same gunshot go off behind him. It boomed throughout the school and Jasper could feel his left leg flare in agony. He let out a bloodcurdling scream as he clutched his leg. He began gasping, trying to escape the pain but it kept coming. He then heard another gunshot that took his other leg. Another scream echoed through the school and Jasper began to use his hands to crawl away from the one who did this to him. He was thankful that he ended up in the school cemetery that resided in the back of Beacon for the students that died while attending. After what seemed like an eternity of crawling. He used the tombstones as cover as he was trying to buy time for the faculty and students to get to him. He looked up to the school to see movement and noises so he was pretty sure they were coming to help. He laughed a bit at this and continued his way through the cemetery.

"O.K. Just a few more feet. Then you ca- "he was cut off by a shotgun placed above his head. He slowly looked up with nothing but fear in his eyes as he saw that mask glaring at him. He then heard the monster he was staring at chuckle a bit and then a bright flash happened and then Jasper succumbed to darkness.

The shrouded man with the skull mask lowered one of his dual shotguns and looked at his work in satisfaction. He looked around his surroundings to see that there was commotion going on in the school above him. He guessed he had a few minutes before people start to come out here and see his handiwork. The man shrugged a bit and was about to head back into the forest until something caught his eye. One of the tombstones that was decorated with the student's gray matter. He holstered his shotguns in his cloak and smeared the victim's insides off the stone. He read the text and noticed the familiar double crescent insignia above it.

"Here lies Jaune Miles Arc. Beloved son, friend, and hero."

The man's fist clenched tight and he growled at the words in front of him. His anger growing with every second he stared at that insignia. At the end of his patience, he let out a roar and pulled out his shotguns, obliterating the stone into dust. He kept firing until he was out of ammo and threw the guns aside. He manifested two more shotguns and let out another flurry at the spot where once stood the tombstone. He was about to continue until he saw in the corner of his eye the flickering of flashlights. His time was up and needed to get out of there. His body started to dissipate into a black mist and made his way back into the forest. As if he never existed in the first place.

 **And scene! I have to admit I was skeptical at first when I came up with this idea. I have seen some stories like this and I'm going to try to make this one great in its own right. On a side note I am an avid reader of fanfic (Mostly just fanfic of our loveable blonde knight in RWBY) so I get the agonizing feeling of waiting for a new chapter to come out. To solve that problem, I decided to make a deadline for my chapters and the next chapter will come out on the 12** **th** **. This will not only let you all see more of these chapters on a steady schedule, but it will give me a drive to write all of this to the very end. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this and I will be back soon**

 **SparkyDapperDab19 signing off!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hahahahaha SURPRISE you beautiful readers. I did say that the next chapter would come out on the 12** **th** **, but I got really excited and finished up this chapter really quick. I mean I wrote the majority of this chapter the night I released the first. So, from now on my chapters can be released up to a certain deadline. Anywhoozers I do not own RWBY or Overwatch characters that I tie in to this fic. If I did, it would be a nightmare.**

Chapter 2

Anguish of the breaking dawn

The morning glare broke through the blinds of Team RWBY's room as they woke up. Yawns could be heard throughout the room as they all stretched to get on with the activities of the day. Mostly encompassing the dull but necessary classes and the needed combat training. The leader of the four huntresses was the one to break the silence in the room.

"Well another day. Let's get it over with." The rose said with a monotone voice as she grabbed her cloak and uniform. The other three only looked onto their leader with some concern as she walked to the shower with her toiletries. She had been like this since that day on their first mission as a team and it was becoming a problem. All she would do now according to her team and sister, is fight, eat, and sleep. It had been three months since she became like this and the rest all honestly had no idea what to do to fix it.

"Attention all Beacon students." The three of them looked up to hear the intercom installed into every room sound off. "Due to recent events, you will all meet in the auditorium. This is not a drill of any kind and we expect you all to come no later than nine, thank you." Confusion was amongst the huntresses and before one could speak out Ruby exited the shower ready for the day.

"I'll meet you all there." Ruby said as she was walking out the door. The door shut behind her and the three looked at each other. They were all concerned about her wellbeing and before Yang could stand up Weiss spoke up.

"You know why we did it and why this needs to be kept to ourselves." She reminded the brawler. Blake looked at the two and saw while one was being calm and collected, the other was starting to lose her patience.

"I didn't know it would cause my sister to be like that!" yang shouted back. her eyes were red with anger but mostly just frustration. "If I knew what we did turned Ruby into that I wouldn't have been a part of it in the first place!" Weiss was about to retort until Blake became the voice of reason.

"Yang, even if we regret what happened we can't tell her. If this hadn't already broken her, the truth definitely will. I'm not saying what we did was justified. I admit I have some regrets." She got off her bed and walked to her partner. "But we can't let that regret overwhelm us. We just have to accept what occurred and try to be there for our leader and your sister." Yang became silent when she said that. Blake smiled at this because it meant Yang was processing and accepting her words. The faunus grabbed her uniform and began walking to the bathroom. "When I'm done, I'll go and find Ruby. I'll message you all when I do." They nodded at this and all went back to what they were doing.

Beacon Auditorium:

Weiss and Yang found the remainder of their team standing in the back of the hall that was now crowded with every student. This was a bit concerning to everyone due to the fact that they had never had to meet up like this. Worries about a big emergency was on everyone's minds as they waited for the reason why they were there in the first place. The commotion died down as they saw Headmaster Ozpin walk up to the podium. His expression on his face was emotionless as he adjusted his glasses. Goodwitch at his side looked a little worried on the other hand.

"Students." He started with the same tone he would use in all of his speeches. "Last night an unfortunate event transpired. At around 9:30 team JZZY were found dead in the outskirts of the Emerald Forrest." Gasps and small murmuring could be heard as they learned the news of the team's demise. Ozpin then held up his hand to quiet down the students. "I cannot tell you all the details but I am able to tell you that this wasn't a grim attack or an accident. Someone is responsible for their deaths. I am informing you all of this because we have no leads on the assailant as of yet. In response to this tragic event, students are permitted to carry their weapons on them at all times when they are not on Beacon grounds and will be accompanied with a trained huntsman or huntress on missions no matter how minuscule it is. I will also remind you the regulation on weapons is not a privilege. You are NOT allowed to use them unless if there is a threat on your or your team's life. Am I understood?" he said and the audience nodded their heads at his regulations. "Last night was a truly tragic event. News has already gone out to the families and I hope this will all help you realize how precious life truly is. Classes will be cancelled for the week for the mourning. With that you are all dismissed." He then exited as fast as he came, leaving dumbfounded and concerned students.

Beacon Cafeteria:

"Well that was a thing." Yang said trying to break the silence among her team. They were all quiet after what happened at the assembly. The entire school was after a bomb like that was dropped on them.

"What worries me is that they were on a very simple mission." Weiss said earning the attention of the other teams. "I talked to Zelda sometimes during out grim studies class and she told me before they left that it was a simple search and destroy mission in outer parts of the Emerald forest. Basic grim training at most. Who or what could do that? I mean whoever did this, attacked students in a place where they could easily get help from people training to be HUNTSMEN." She said and saw the others in deep thought.

"Either a really stupid person," Blake said, letting the heiress's words sink in. "or a professional. Judging that the whole team…. Is no longer with us, I'm assuming the latter." The others nodded at this. They were about to back to eating their lunch until the door to the mess hall burst open. The noise of the door breaking off its hinges caused everyone to look at the source of the noise. Surprisingly they all saw the support team NPR who all had very livid expressions on their faces. Even the stoic Ren had a subtle, but furious look.

They all saw the leader of the team Pyrrha Nikos, scan the room with a sharp intensity. She looked over all of the students and her eyes widened a bit until they narrowed in almost a primal look. She and her team made their way to their intended target that was an unaware team CRDL. Before anyone could process what happened, Pyrrha yanked their leader by the back of his collar and slammed him into the ground. Cardin's team was about to react until Nora and Ren started to attack the other three. Ren had Russel pinned to the wall by his foot slowly crushing his windpipe and Nora was in the process of breaking Skye's and Dove's legs. What everyone was so shocked by wasn't the sudden act of violence, but the malicious intent that they all had. It looked as if they truly wanted to harm them and even go further.

"What the hell Nikos!" Cardin shouted. His only response was a straight punch to the face.

"You just can't get enough can't you?! You make him the black sheep of this school and he's now gone! So, you go on and desecrate his GRAVE?!" Pyrrha shrieked. The students watching this unfold go wide eyed at her claim. They all knew who she was talking about and slightly hung their heads at remembering him. Yang saw her sister immediately stand up from her seat, seeing the same look dawning on her face. Before any of her teammates could react, their leader used her semblance to get to her sister team. She appeared behind the champion and looked down at the bruised bully.

"Explain." She said. Her voice was monotone like before but was now dripping with venom. Cardin had a look of confusion written all over his face as he looked at the two women that would probably put him in the infirmary very soon.

"What the hell are you talking about! I haven't even to been to his grave! I don't even know what you're accusing me of!" He shouted in protest only to have the champion slam something very hard in his face. He recoiled and yelped in pain. He then looked up to see her holding a piece of granite that had the engraving of the Arc symbol.

"THIS is what we find this morning when we went to visit his grave!" Pyrrha hissed at Cardin, pointing at the chunk of rock. Ruby went wide eyed at this and immediately grabbed at Cardin's hair. He screamed in pain as her nails dug into his scalp.

"Let go! Please I honestly had no idea that happened!" he said. Tears were leaking down his face due to the pain flaring all over his head.

"How can we believe you?! After everything you did to him?! You honestly think we wouldn't suspect you for doing this?!" Pyrrha yelled back. she reeled her fist back to give the bully another punch until a loud slamming noise echoed over all the students. They all turned to see professor Ozpin standing at the entrance. His cane puncturing the hardwood floor.

"That is ENOUGH." His volume rose with his last word and it made the students shudder. "You four will all report to my office immediately. Just be lucky Ms. Goodwitch isn't the one here at the moment." Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren went to follow the headmaster until they noticed that Ruby still hadn't let go of Cardin. Ozpin noticed this too and calmly made his way to her. He was inches away now and about to put his hand on her shoulder.

"What did he ever do to you Cardin?" Ruby wispered just loud enough for the headmaster and Cardin to hear her words. Cardin gained a fearful look until Ozpin placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see him with his same neutral expression.

"Let's go Miss Rose." He said. She let out a small sigh at this and closed her eyes for a second. She wiped away some tears and nodded her head. She joined the others and headed out of the mess hall with the headmaster behind them. Ozpin then looked out into the crowd and spotted the area where the confrontation took place. He pinched the bridge of his nose and lightly shook his head before leaving the mess hall of now emotionally exhausted students.

"I'll wait for her." Yang said standing up from her bench. "Despite what we did, she needs me. She was like this when she lost her mom and I need to there for her again. I'll meet you two back at the room." she gave them a wink and headed in the direction her sister went. Weiss simply looked down at her food and silently squeezed her fork almost enough for her nails to draw blood. She obviously wasn't mad at Yang, but was mad at how badly her friends and partner were in shambles.

She didn't expect what they did to impact them this much.

Ozpin's office:

"Now please explain to me why you outright attacked students just now?" Ozpin asked as he propped his elbows on his desk, looking at the four in front of him. He saw Nora about to say something until Pyrrha walked up to the headmaster and placed the bloody piece of stone on his desk. He sighed as he gazed at the two crescents that were now laced with Cardin's blood.

"And you suspect the perpetrator would be Mr. Winchester and his team?" he asked and all Pyrrha did was nod. He nodded in return and leaned back a bit in his chair. "I understand things have not been well for you four as of late." There small gestures of discomfort only proved his claim true. "But in these situations, we need to think rationally about events like this. Did it occur to you that one of the four students that were murdered were in the cemetery when they met their unfortunate demise?" He then brought up a video on his scroll to show the confused students in front of him. "I won't show you the more disturbing parts, but this was caught on our school surveillance system last night." The four of them looked closer at the screen to see the back of a man standing over what seemed to be a corpse. They couldn't see the state of the person due to the man blocking him from the camera. The man was dawning a hood and the back of his cloak seemed to have a design of some skull. They became confused at the video due to him not doing anything but stand there. Out of nowhere the man pulled out two giant shotguns and obliterated a tombstone in the cemetery. They saw this go for a full minute until he turned into ashes and disappeared. Ozpin then shut off the video to see the four students, dawning looks of regret and some confusion on their faces. "As you can see that the ones you all attacked weren't responsible. But due to these troubling times for us all, I will let you all go with a warning. Be very grateful that Miss Goodwitch had decided to take the day off or this would have ended with a worse punishment. You are all dismissed." Ruby and NPR all filed out of his room and he began to sip some of his coffee until he received a message on his scroll. He saw it was from his deputy headmistress and he smirked a bit. He sent her off today to see if she could find some information in Vale about a suspicion he had. There were few things the headmaster would never forget, and those weapons the murderer used were one of the few.

He looked at the message and his smirk morphed into a frown at the message. He immediately got out of his seat and headed to the elevator, but not before grabbing his cane, gripping it tight. As he made it down the elevator, Ozpin looked at the message one last time.

'Head to these coordinates. There is someone you should meet.'

 **What made Ozpin on edge? What will Yang say to her sister when they meet up again? Where is Goodwitch? Why did I end on sort of a cliffhanger? Find out next time you beautiful people.**

 **So, this fic has caught some attention on you readers and I am very surprised by the outcome. I'm happy I get to surprise you with this early chapter, but there are two things I need to discuss.**

 **1.** **I saw a comment saying this should be in the crossover section and I am still debating on that. I honestly am wanting the go the same path as the fanfic The Black Swordsman of Vale by undaed15 in regards to crossover. It uses characters of RWBY but has the concepts, ideologies, and scenarios of Berserk, but not an official crossover. That's what I plan to do, but if I choose to go the other way and label it a crossover keep an eye out for that.**

 **2.** **So the next thing to talk about is the next chapter. I like the six day gap in between deadlines so going off the 12ths deadline chapter three will be out no later than the 18** **th** **. I am taking a winter class that requires this dreadful thing called "effort" (shudders) but I assure you all that you will get your chapters.**

 **Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this latest installment of Reaping with Sorrow and as always, Be fierce!**

 **SparkyDapperDab19 signing off!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well. It's official. I have a problem with writing and editing this way too fast. I mean I honestly went over this chapter three times after writing it and it isn't even the 12** **th** **yet! Don't worry the 18** **th** **is staying the same. Anywhoozers I am about to claim the RWBY and Overwatch Rights with the jetpack I stole from Phara.**

 **Soldier 76: "Ive got you in my sights"**

 **Oh son of a bitch. Welp before I get my ass handed to me by an aim bot, lemme say I do not own the characters of RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. Hope you enjoy this latest chapter darlings!**

Chapter 3

Death walks among the living

"Sis! You okay?" Yang asked as she ran up to the group that came out of the elevator. She noticed they had a mixture of anger and confusion on their faces. She was about to ask what happened until Nora beat her to it.

"WHY DID HE DO THAT?! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" she screamed with frustrated fury. This caused other students and school faculty to stare at them all but Nora didn't care. Yang was confused at this and looked to her sister for answers.

"Long story short the one that killed team JZZY also destroyed his tombstone." Ruby replied with her cold tone. The others could understand the reason for her stoic but cold personality when she told them this. They all had a different way of processing the loss of the one they cared for. While Nora and surprisingly Pyrrha held more fury in their grief, Ruby and Ren bottled it up and instead became much quieter and distant from others they didn't fully know.

Yang's eyes widened a bit at the news she just heard and just like her friends in front of her, she began to wonder why a person would do that. especially a murderer. But unlike them she didn't think too hard on it. She simply shrugged at this news and faced her sister and the others. "Hey guys do you mind if I talk to Rubes for a bit. There is something I need to talk to her about." She said with her cheerful attitude but laced with an undertone of seriousness, implying that the issue would be somewhat personal. Team NPR simply nodded and headed off, possibly to their room.

"Okay Yang." Ruby asked as she quirked an eyebrow. "What's this about?"

Team NPR's dorm:

"You're going to do what?" Ren said a slightly baffled look at his leader who was readying her shield over her shoulder. Nora was with her partner with more of a skeptical look.

"I said I'm going to find him." She replied, not even looking at the two. She checked her dust rounds and loaded a clip into Milo and hoisted it over her other shoulder. The two just stared on and looked at their leader. Trying to process what she just said to them.

"May I ask how? You heard Ozpin. They don't have any leads on this guy and even if you find him, then what? We know what happened when four students went up against him." Ren was a little surprised that Nora was the one saying this and this made Pyrrha stop in her tracks and glare at the bomber.

"And what do you suggest we do?" Pyrrha replied with some ferocity. "Just sit here and wait for more people to die? Like that?" she gestured out to the emerald forest along the horizon to emphasized her point. Nora was about to retort until Ren stepped forward.

"Pyrrha. I understand that you want to stop this man and not because of his murders. But think back to the mess hall. We attacked students on speculation alone. You honestly think the authorities will tolerate that same approach in Vale? Not to mention that your actions will carry more attention due to your fame." He told her. She then looked at him and he noticed she was processing everything he said. He let out a sigh and walked over to the champion and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I miss him too Pyrrha. We all do. So, if you're going to look for this man, then we're coming with. It's what he would have told you if he was here." She went a little wide eyed at his statement due to none of them bringing him up. This was the first time he was mentioned in a conversation between the three of them since everything fell apart. She looked at him and noticed that even he looked a little deflated at mentioning him, but she respected him for being the first to bring him up.

"Besides." He said as he went to their front door. "It seems we have some volunteers that want to join us." He opened it up to see surprisingly only Blake and Weiss fall through. All of them expected at least Yang to be there with them.

"We saw you all come back to the room kind of angry and started to hear some arguing." Blake said as she got up off the ground. "We heard everything and want to help." She added and Weiss got up by her side.

"I mean it's obvious you're going to need more help if you want to find this man." The heiress said with a huff. "Besides you've all helped us out before so think of this as returning the favor." Pyrrha smiled at the two but then had a puzzled look.

"What about the rest of your team? I'm sure Yang would want to be in on this." She asked and Blake shrugged a bit.

"I'll send her a message in a bit telling her what were up to." The faunus replied. "Anyways where do you all plan on going?" The support team looked at each other with stumped looks and Blake let out a small sigh. honestly despite being a faker, their leader was the one with something resembling a plan when they needed one. "How about we split up? Ren and Nora can try to get info off the streets of Vale while Weiss and Pyrrha see if you all can find some information at the CCT tower?" she suggested and everyone gave her a suspicious look.

"And what about you?" Nora questioned somewhat dramatically, Blake was convinced that she was about to pull out a fake mustache and start a mock interrogation. Blake simply nodded at this and looked at the four.

"I found out from a source of mine, there is a White Fang recruitment meeting later tonight in the warehouse district. This guy made himself infamous over the media and unfortunately the White Fang treat anyone like that as an enemy to their cause for some reason." She said and saw them about to protest, until she put her hand up in defense. "None of you are or could pass to be faunus in the amount of time we have, Pyrrha is too famous to blend in with the crowd, Weiss is a definite no due to her family name, Ren can't go anywhere without Nora following, and Nora is too…. Nora. No offense." She told them who all realized that what she said was right.

"None taken!" the bomber replied "But if something happens you call us. No matter what. You got that?" Blake was surprised by the sudden change of bubbly to concerned in the matter of seconds. Blake simply nodded and the rest of them followed suit.

"Alright we'll all meet back here in four hours or if someone finds anything. Sound good?" Pyrrha asked and they all nodded at this and decided to head off, but not before Blake could send a message to Yang saying what was happening.

With Ruby and Yang:

Yang was sitting on the edge of the lecture desk in a classroom that she dragged her sister to. As much as she thought what she did was right back then, she needed to try and help her sister no matter what.

"So why are we here?" Ruby asked as she was somewhat pacing in front of her blonde sister and Yang took a small breath and looked at her.

"Ruby we need to talk about why you're like this?" she replied and Ruby stopped for a moment and looked at Yang with an annoyed look. "I know this isn't easy. It isn't easy to deal with something like this. I know it's only been three months but Ruby, this is unhealthy. All you have been doing is eating, sleeping, and fighting. Your grades are slipping and the only reason Goodwitch hasn't gone off on you is because you've been through this befo-"She was cut off as Ruby stopped her with a cold glare.

"You're right Yang." The same voice she used on Cardin was back and Yang would be lying if she said she didn't shudder from it. "I have been through this before. I had to wake up one morning expecting everything to be fine the way it was before only to have it ripped from me twice now. Mom was the first… and now him." She said as she turned away from Yang. The brawler could see that this was really affecting her. Summer was her mom too, but Ruby had more of a stronger bond with her. Just like she did with her dad.

"I can't even say his name Yang." Ruby said as she started to quiver, trying to stifle some sobs. "I can't even hear his name without breaking down. When you left me on the first day at Beacon he was there for me. He had been my first friend here. He even started to slowly fill that hole that formed when Mom died." Yang could hear her tears dripping onto the floor and her saw that Ruby's quivering become more intense. Her mom instincts came over her and wrapped her sister a hug. She then heard her bawling uncontrollably as her grip tightened on yang's clothes. Yang simply cooed her and slowly stroked her sister's hair, doing her best to calm her down just a bit.

"Ruby, I know this won't be easy." Yang started. She then let out a hefty sigh and tilted Ruby's chin up so that she was looking at her. "But he wouldn't want to see you like this. He always admired how you were always so strong despite the pain you've went through. He wouldn't want to see you like this. I'm not saying to change on a dime though. This will take time, but even the smallest of steps are progress in grieving." She finished and noticed Ruby wiped away her tears and nodded. She smiled at this and helped her sister off the ground. Knowing that the worst of the talk was over she dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out her scroll and saw a message from Blake. She read the contents and a smile came across her face. "I know what will make you feel better Rubes." She said with a wink and gestured to follow her. Ruby smiled a bit and followed her lead.

With Ozpin, undisclosed location:

Ozpin looked up from his scroll to observe the destination that he was given by Goodwitch. A house on the outskirts of Vale. The paint was nonexistent and rotting was an obvious find all over the house. Mold and other fungi were slowly seeping through the floorboards with each step the headmaster made as he walked into the house while smoke and alcohol polluted the air with an extra layer of dust. Ozpin simply made his way to the living room of the house and saw his assistant headmistress with a man sitting in one of the chairs. The lighting in the room was just perfect enough to shroud his face. He looked back at his assistant and noticed the concerned look and he simply nodded, instructing her that he wanted to be left alone with this unknown source. She nodded and followed his instructions by quickly making her way out of the suffocating house. He heard the door creak and slam shut behind her and Ozpin made his way over to the man and sat across from him. Silence filled the room and tension soon became noticeable between the two men until the shadowed figure leaned a bit forward.

"What do you want Ozpin?" he said in a gruff noise. Clearly displeased that the headmaster was in his home. Ozpin simply showed him a photo that was enhanced to show only two shotguns.

"You and I both know you are the only ones who use any weapons relatable to this old friend. So please explain to me why these were used to kill a team of my students?" he said and the man grabbed the photo and gave it a closer inspection. Ozpin saw that the man was now chuckling at this. The shrouded man then got up and headed to a nearby file cabinet cloaked in dust and walked back all while still chuckling.

"So, the kid finally got started. Bout damn time." The man muttered and Ozpin quirked an eyebrow at this as he saw the man sit back down.

"Are you implying that you were involved in the death of these innocent students?" Ozpin asked with a hint of anger. The stranger simply laughed a little louder at this and tossed a file at the headmaster.

"All I did was give the kid tools and training. That was all. Everything else he did was on him. And I have to say Ozzy." The man said as he leaned forward. The light showing a scarred and beat up man, dawning his signature beanie despite the warm weather. His crooked smile showed through the darkness. "You really need to learn to more thorough background checks on your students." He then gestured for the headmaster to open the file. The headmaster complied and opened it up to see some things he wished he foresaw. The stranger simply retracted his smile back to a smirk and got back up to poor himself some liquor.

"Jasper Underly." The stranger said causing Ozpin to look up. "Convicted of buying Faunus off an underground trafficking network to help out his family estate and other sick pleasures." Ozpin immediately scanned through the file on the student and saw on the records in his hands that his claim was true.

"Yarshan Argene." The stranger continued. "Brought in on multiple accounts of sexual assault on faunus and human alike. I was impressed by the amount of restraining orders he racked up over the years." Ozpin flipped the pages to Yarshan's section to see the list of people that had filed against him.

"Zoe Decaunt. Family of info brokers and was known in Vaccuo for her unique methods of extorting information." Pictures showed of a room that were decorated in what seemed to be Zoe's handiwork.

"And lastly Zelda Beltz" the man downed his glass of whiskey before going on. "Arrested on multiple accounts of battery against faunus and humans, not to mention crazy anger issues." Ozpin simply put the document down. Internally he was baffled that he let all of this information slip by him. He had met all of these students before and none had any hints of showing the same intentions that the file showed. Updates on background checks were on his list of top priorities now. He was brought back to reality when he saw the man sit back down with another glass of whiskey. "That's the tip of the iceberg Ozzy. You think this is over? A one-time tragedy? The kid is probably about to go on a massacre as we speak." Ozpin tensed at this and the man leaned forward, seeing the slight fear in the headmaster. "Honestly, I have no idea how he became who he was, or why he's doing this. I do know one thing. Everyone is fair game. Huntsmen, criminals, white fang, even civilians. He's here to watch us burn and he's the one holding the kerosene and lighter. I saw it in his eyes Oz. When I found him, his eyes weren't even the eyes of a broken man. They were the eyes of someone who's been shattered." The man smirked and Ozpin noticed that the man was reaching for something behind him, only to see a handgun in the stranger's hands. Ozpin gripped his cane tight and looked at the man who let out a sharp laugh. "I ain't gonna be here to see it. Shame. Anyways." The man put the gun to his own temple and gave another crooked smile to the headmaster. "Reap what you sow Ozzy. Reap what you sow." Ozpin got up and reached out to the man.

"GABRIE- "*BLAM!* the deafening noise of a gunshot rang through the headmaster's ears as he was sprayed with a little of the man's cranium. Ozpin looked to see his old friend slumped in his chair. The gun still loosely in his grasp and that smile still on his face. Ozpin simply starred at the crumpled form of the man until Goodwitch slammed the door open and her riding crop at the ready. She gasped when she saw the body in front of Ozpin and the headmaster let out a breath he had been holding. He then picked up the blood splattered documents and brushed off the blood that was on his face. He then walked up to Glynda who was still shocked at the scene. "Take the file cabinet. When we get to Beacon, I want the whole school in lockdown." He told her with a static tone as he passed her. She nodded at this and took one ore look at the man that had just shot himself. She pushed back the urge to gag and used her semblance to carry the rest of the files with her. As she exited the house, she saw Ozpin standing there with his back to her. She noticed that his hands were gripped tight around both his cane and the documents he was carrying.

Whatever happened, she knew it couldn't be good if it shook Ozpin to his core.

Warehouse district of Vale:

Blake was currently among the new recruits going through one of their traditional orientations into the White Fang. She was confident that no one would notice her due to her being a separate branch. While she did operate in the outskirts of the kingdom, information and whereabouts of certain individuals were slow to come by so she was confident that she wouldn't stand out.

Confusion overtook her though as she looked at the front podium to see none other than Roman Torchwick giving an egotistical speech to the faunus. She started to lose interest in his speech due to something catching her eye. There was some commotion going on in the top balcony that watched over the crowd of White Fang. She saw something that looked like black mist flood the top area and a scream broke through Roman's speech. Everyone looked up only hear a gunshot go off and everything going dark. Apparently, the fuse box was destroyed. Weather it was intended or not, it didn't matter due to all the faunus having night vision. Blake was trying to scan the room through the panic to see what was happening. She swore she heard Roman yell out over the confusion but she once again droned it out to a bigger threat.

She saw that same black mist descend into the crowd and take the form of a man. From what she was told by Pyrrha, he fit the description. Cloaked in black with a hood and a skull mask. For a moment though she felt his eyes on her and saw nothing but red. She was rarely scared even at some of the most dangerous grim and was almost fearless against any military, but just one look from this man made every fiber of her being scream at her to run. To run far away and don't look back, but her feet refused to move. She needed to leave now. Needed to call her friends and get help but for the life of her she just couldn't move.

"Heheheheheheheh." she was snapped out of her dazed state by a deep raspy chuckle. She noticed him looking down at the floor and everyone seemed to go silent at this. Some almost were about to just leave or shrug it off as if it was a test of some sort devised by the White Fang.

That was when all hell broke loose.

A black mist exploded and engulfed the room. Infiltrating and disorienting everyone's sense of surroundings. Deafening shot gun blasts rang out at almost inhuman speeds, ripping the limbs and flesh off of anyone who was in the wrong place. Screams could be heard as more gunshots engulfed their cries for help. All to be followed by their bodies falling to the floor in mangled poses.

Blake was caught in a large group of recruits that all decided to leave through the front entrance, only to find out that the entrance was sealed shut. She then could feel bodies collapsing around her and the screams to cause a strain on her enhanced hearing. Instinctively she hit the deck and used the corpses as cover from the devastating blasts. As the slaughter continued as well as the screams, she peeked through one of the corpses to see the man swirling with the smoke, firing his weapons in random directions which were all hitting something or someone. What really shook her though was that she started to hear the man laughing much louder.

"HeheheheHAHAHAHAH! DIE! DIE! DIE! YOU FUCKING ANIMALS DIE! HAHAHAHAHA!" Blake squeezed her eyes shut trying to shut out that image in her head of him brutally murdering them all.

After what seemed to be an eternity for Blake, the gunfire finally stopped along with his demented laughter. He heard him breathing deeply and finally looked up through the bodies to see him just standing there looking at his work. He took one more deep breath and looked behind him. It appeared that Roman hid behind whatever he was about to present before he was interrupted and the hooded monster noticed this. He slowly made his way to the quivering arms dealer and yanked at his hair. Blake could hear Roman shouting in protest along with sounds of struggle.

"Shshsh." Blake looked to see that the masked man was now at Roman's eye level and put a finger over his lips. "Don't worry. Unlike the others, I actually need you alive. Y'see Roman, I have big plans that are in need of your connections. You and I are taking a little trip to the southeast." And with that the man yanked Roman by the hair and disappeared into the night.

Blake simply laid there for another ten minutes before even thinking of moving from her spot. What just happened was a complete massacre. Hundreds of people gone in an instant. She had no idea how to process all those lives just gone in a terrifying bloodbath. Tears streamed down her face as she listened for anyone to make any noise. She needed to hear something. Something that would ensure she wasn't the only one to live through this nightmare.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when her scroll vibrated and saw that it was a call from her partner. Her hands shacked uncontrollably as she pressed the answer key.

"Blake? It's Yang" she heard her blonde partner over the phone. "Ruby and I are going around Vale now and helping you guys out. Where are you? We should at least meet up." Blake tried to respond. Tried to say anything. To tell Yang that she was okay. Instead she began to bawl uncontrollably. Sobs and cries of absolute anguish could be heard through the scroll.

"Blake?! Are you okay?! Wait I think I can hear you! Stay where you are! We'll be right there!" Yang shouted through the scroll and hung up. Blake didn't care at the moment due to the fact that she just witnessed what this person could truly do. How much damage and death he could create.

How he was a whole new level of the word 'Monster'.

 **Welp that's a wrap for this latest installment of Reaping with Sorrow. I had a lot of fun with this chapter and I can't wait to give you all more! Leave a comment if you want, I enjoy feedback and criticism so I can improve this story.**

 **So, yea as you can see I did bring in a overwatch character into this universe which dubs this story a crossover. I will change the status on that as soon as I find out how to change it. I may be a writer but I suuuuck with technology. This is my first time posting anything on so I'm still figuring out the fundamentals. Yes, I'm a scrub embrace it. The change shall be very soon though. Honestly, I don't care what hoops I have to jump through I just want you all to enjoy this story to the best of my ability.**

 **Anyways Chapter 4 will be coming soon and as always Be Fierce you beautiful readers and writers.**

 **SparkyDapperDab19 signing off!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello you beautiful Readers and Writers. I have Returned! And it hasn't been a full 24 hours! HAHAHA I am on a roll. Anyways I just got this awesome hoodie of Soldier 76's jacket as a disguise and I am inches away from the rights to RWBY and Overwatch. Heheheheh.**

 **Soldier 76: YOUNG PUNK!**

 **SON OF A… ugh you know the drill. I don't own the characters or settings of RWBY and Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. ENJOY!**

Chapter four

A recovery, discovery, and a solution?

Roman was thrashing around for what seemed to be hours as he tried to break free of the man's grasp. But every time he got close of prying his grip, that annoying smoke came back to restrict him once more. He noticed the man was starting to become annoyed at this and was then thrown a few feet in front of him. The arms dealer noticed they were right outside the kingdom borders due to the deserted ruins that surrounded both of them. Roman then saw the man in front of him holding a shotgun in one hand and Melodic Cudgel in the other.

"Okay Mr. Dark and Brooding," Roman said as he got up off the ground and brushed the dust off his white coat. "Mind telling me why you massacred a bunch of animals and took me out to the sticks?" despite the smart-ass attitude he was speaking with, he was actually terrified of what this man could do to him.

He was answered with only a gunshot to one of his legs. The echo combined with Roman screaming in pain caused a nearby flock of nevermore to fly off. The man walked up to the dapper looking ginger who was now writhing in agony. He then dropped Roman's weapon in front of him and kneeled down to his level.

"As much as I'd love to stick around with you Roman," the raspy voice returned which caused Roman to shudder. "There are still some things I need to attend to in vale. So, while I'm doing that I need you to get your pretty little face to your base at Mountain Glenn. Give the ones that are working there a message." He then got up and turned around to head back into Vale "Tell them that if they don't want to end up like their friends in that warehouse, they work for me now. If they refuse, well it's your head." And with that he began to walk back into the city.

"You fucking monster!" Roman shouted. "How the hell am I supposed to get all the way back their when you fucking shot my leg?!" he was now clutching his torn ligament that was only connected by a few strands of meat. The man stopped in his tracks and turned to see Roman giving him a hateful glare. He chuckled at the man and removed his mask. He noticed the look of surprise and disgust being painted over the look of pain and smirked at this. He then put the mask back on and gave a shrug.

"Why do you think I gave you that cane? Better get going. I hear Beowolves are famished at this hour." He laughed a bit as he then turned back into his black mist. Disappearing and leaving Roman to question if his last remark was true.

With Ozpin:

The headmaster of Beacon had locked himself in his office due to the recent events that had transpired. Not even Goodwitch had seen him since they came back to Beacon. Within his office, files and documents were scattered everywhere with no care to organization. In the center of the room resided the headmaster as he went over another document uncovering secrets he or anyone else was unaware of.

He discovered the leading members of the Beacon's board of administration were all anti-faunus and accepting anyone that agreed with their beliefs on the matter, along with some bribes. He instantly called them out on it and each were arrested by Vale authorities. Despite where he got the information from, he was grateful that he was able to acquire these files. Not only did it say who the killer's potential targets were, but who to be suspicious of in case something worse happens.

He flipped through another document showing more potential targets until he noticed a file that stuck out from the rest. It was a pitch-black file that had the word 'Prime' written on the label. His eyebrow quirked a bit at this and he picked it up and began to read its contents. Unlike the other files that were organized and were presented in a professional manner, only three photos fell out of the file and landed on Ozpins desk. He pushed aside the other documents and closely looked at the three photos in front of him and saw that they were pictures of WBY. They were simple profile pictures to be used on their scroll's I.D. but what really confused the headmaster was that each photograph, there was a word written on each of them, covering their eyes and the bridge of their noses. 'Betrayer' was on the photo with Weiss, 'Coward' was written on Blake's, and 'Murderer' was written on Yang's.

Ozpin reached for his office land line and dialed a number on his scroll. Hoping that she would pick up.

"Headmaster? Are you alright? You haven't left your office since we got back." Glynda asked over the phone and Ozpin let out a small sigh of relief.

"Glynda can you send team RWBY up to my office? There are some things I need to discuss with them." There was a pause after he asked this favor and he cocked an eyebrow up at the silence. "Glynda? Where are they?" he then heard a sigh from her end.

"Team RWBY is in the infirmary at the moment. Apparently before the lockdown was in effect the two teams attempted to find any information on the same person we were looking into. Ms. Belladonna found more than a lead at a White Fang recruiting orientation. I assume you haven't seen the news yet. I'll send you a link but in the mean time you need to get down here." She said and a vibration came from his phone. He opened the link and instantly deflated a little.

'Tragedy among the Faunus. The Reaper Strikes Again.' Below the title, he saw the graphic images that were displayed over the breaking news and even he was having a hard time keeping his stomach stable. He got up from his desk, ignoring some papers toppling over and headed straight to the elevator. He just prayed that Blake wasn't severely injured. Not just because he was worried of one of his student's safety, but he needed to get to the bottom of some things.

With Teams RWBY and NPR:

The six students all looked at their friend who was now steadily breathing on a hospital bed. While Weiss and NPR were all shocked into silence of what happened, Ruby was now comforting her crying sister as she was holding one of her partner's hands. Ruby could make a pretty strong assumption that Blake wouldn't be the same after what happened. When she and Yang finally narrowed down where Blake's screaming was coming from, they opened the front door to have the aroma of death basically slam into them. they both stifled a few gasps as they saw the remains of dozen's maybe hundreds of bodies sprawled across the room. Yang didn't care at the moment though due to her panicked state and rushed into the building, screaming for Blake to come out and make sure she was safe. This went on for another few minutes until they both heard some stifled sobs and noticed some movement in the corner of the room. Ruby now joined her sister as they saw their trembling teammate in a fetal positon. She was covered in blood and was shaking uncontrollably. Yang's protective instincts kicked into full overdrive and instantly picked her partner up and rushed her to Bumblebee, but not before telling Ruby to call the authorities. Ruby agreed to this and dialed the Vale police. They questioned her about how she found this ungodly scene and she told them that they were walking around and smelled what was coming from inside and after a few more useless questions she was let go and she made it back to Beacon to find out that Blake suffered from shock, but other than that she wasn't hurt.

"Will she be okay?" Nora softly asked and Ren patted her head and gave a reassuring smile.

"In time, she will be Nora." He said and then looked up to Ruby and Weiss. "Do you mind if we step outside? We all need to talk about some things." He said and the two nodded at this, but not before looking back at their bedridden teammate.

"I was actually thinking the same thing Mr. Lie." They all turned to see Ozpin and Goodwitch at the entrance of the room and they all went a little rigid at his stern tone. He simply stepped forward towards his students. "Please explain one of my students and your teammate was at a White Fang meeting?" He saw sheepish looks appear on each of them until Pyrrha stepped forward.

"We were all looking for any leads on this 'Reaper'." Pyrrha started, feeling a strange taste in her mouth when she said that name. "Blake found out that the White Fang were having a meeting and since she is the only faunus in our group, she volunteered to see if she could find any info through them." Ozpin gripped his cane tight at this and refused to show any frustration to the students in front of him.

"While I must commend you all on your virtuous intentions on the matter at hand. I must remind you all that you are all students here. You are all my responsibility that I must keep under any circumstance. I understand we are training you to become huntsmen and huntresses, but I will not allow myself to stand aside while you all throw yourselves at unnecessary danger. And this man that you were trying to find is not a man to be trifled with. Isn't that right Ms. Belladonna?" they all turned to see that she was awake now. Quivering a bit, but awake.

"He was a monster. A merciless, unholy monster." She barely said and they all started to grow fearful at what she just said. "He was laughing when he killed them all. Fucking. Laughing." With that she grew quite once more.

Ozpin went to grab something out of his pocket. "A monster that made you and the majority of your team primary targets." He said as he showed each of them the three pictures of Blake, Weiss and Yang. They all had looks of surprise and fear now at just the malevolency that was used to write those words on the photos. "For some reason. The person who is responsible for this had a close eye on a lot of people in Vale, but for some reason you three are the only ones in an entire file cabinet that were labeled as such. Care to tell me why?" he then asked and the three students only looked on with confusion at the photos. Unknown to the others though, each of them had a sinking feeling of what the words might be referring to.

"So, if you three do not know, then there is nothing more that I wish to discuss about." The headmaster was about to turn away until Ruby called out.

"Actually Headmaster." He turned around to see the fifteen-year-old leader holding something in her hands. "When we were at the warehouse I found this." They all looked to see her holding a jar with black smoke swirling around in random rotations. Ozpin's eyes slightly widened when he saw this and looked at the Rose who was now shrinking under the stares she was receiving. "I saw it and thought it would be useful. The police weren't interested so I thought I would bring it to you seeing you know a lot more than we do." She rambled and the headmaster formed a small smile. He was grateful for this due to any scrap of evidence helping. He then gestured for her to hand it to him. She was just about to hand it to him until the smoke started to swirl with more aggression. As if it wanted to desperately get out of the small jar. They all became confused at this and Ruby retracted the jar to see that it became calm once more. Ruby then started moving the jar around the room in an odd game of Hot or Cold with the smoke. She kept moving until the smoke started to become frantic. She then looked up from the jar and now everyone was starring in confusion as they were all now looking at Pyrrha Nikos.

"Miss. Nikos." Ozpin started. They all looked at him and cold practically see the gears turning in his head. "Channel your aura in your hand. There's something I would like to see." Pyrrha was hesitant at first but she complied. A shade of red engulfed her hand and she reached forward. She could swear on her life that the smoke was squealing in pain at this and before anyone could realize what happened, the smoke simply dissipated, as if it was being erased from existence. Ozpin smirked at this and looked at the baffled champion. He then walked up to her and gave her a reassuring smile. "Miss Nikos. I have a favor to ask of you."

With Roman:

It had taken him all day but he finally made it back to Mount Glenn. He had hobbled for miles and even had the rest of his leg ripped off by a Beowolf that ambushed him. Despite that, he made his way back to the underground entrance and relentlessly banged on the door. Eventually he was greeted by some white fang grunts and he was escorted to a medical cot. He was breathing heavily from his journey from the outskirts of Vale and all he wanted to do at the moment was just lie down.

He then noticed his multi-colored partner in crime rush up to him with a concerned look. He simply let out an exasperated chuckle followed by a few grunts of pain as a white fang medic was treating his leg. "looks like we got a new employer." He said to her and her confused look grew even more. "The guy who took my leg and did this." He pulled out his scroll to show her the images that were taken of the massacre at the meeting and she let out something resembling a gag. She was a sociopath yes but even she had limits.

"Yea. he also told me that plans will be the same, just sped up. Honestly I don't care anymore." He said as he laid back down. He really didn't care what he had to do. He would do about anything if he was sure he would never have to see that kid's face again.

 **THE PLOT THICKENS! HAHAHAHA! Yes I know not as gory or murdery like the last. It is agonizing to not just dive into the juicy parts and let you all read it the awesomeness, but there is this thing called pacing that I just discovered and that it is imperative to have if you want to have readers enjoy the story.**

 **NOW TO RESPOND TO SOME COMMENTS!**

 **killerbeats359: I was laughing my ass off for five minutes straight at your comment.**

 **Darkspartan116: I got the idea of this fic from listening to that song! (It may even make a cameo who knows?)**

 **Qrow Branwen – Rune Rose: You're just gonna have to wait and see. ;)**

 **And that concludes this chapter! Leave a comment and tell me what you think of! I honestly love dishing these chapters out for you all to read and thank you for the support. The deadline is still the eighteenth and as always, Be Fierce you beautiful people.**

 **SparkyDapperDab19 SIGNING OFF!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well I am BAAAACK sweethearts, and with another installment of Reaping with Sorrow. I love seeing all of your reactions towards this and I am happy that you are all enjoying this. Now if you don't mind me I just stole Sombra's cloaking device and I am once more inches away from the rights to these awesome franchises.**

 **(Six Bastions surround me and turn into turret mode)**

 **…** **. So before I get screwed six ways to Sunday, lemme say I don't own RWBY and Overwatch. (Bastion beeps angrily) AAANND the franchise that owns the song that I use. They belong to their rightful owners that are Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. Geez at least let me have a little dignity before I die.**

 **ENJOY!**

Chapter five

Calm before the storm

Beacon Auditorium:

The students were all gathered again with more confusion than ever. First the unfortunate news of Team JZZY, the lockdown, the massacre that was plastered all over the news, and now this? Honestly this was the most commotion any of the students had experienced and the worst part was they didn't know why they were even here yet.

The murmurs simmered down though as they once again saw Ozpin walk up to the podium and adjust his glasses. At a second glance, they all noticed that he looked a little worse for wear. As if he had stayed up the night before.

"Students of the Vale, Mistral, Vaccuo, and Atlas branches." He started as he looked at each area corresponding with the kingdoms. "I will be blunt. This week has not gone for the better. As you have all heard, there is a murderer running rampant in the streets of Vale known now as the Reaper. He was the one responsible for the deaths of not only team JZZY, but responsible for the massacre that happened last night in Vale." Like last time, some gasps and murmurs of concern spread through the crowd and just like the last time, he put his hand up to silence the masses. "In response to this, Beacon has been in lockdown for the past twenty-four hours. But that order will now be lifted due to a breakthrough in this investigation." He then reached down next to the podium and pulled out a briefcase. He turned the case and opened it to the audience, showing the large syringe that contained a dark red aura. "We have run tests on some of the remains of the Reaper's aura or power resembling aura and discovered that we can repel it. Each leader of every team here will be responsible for carrying one on them at all times outside of Beacon." He noticed everyone staring intently at the syringe and saw glimmers of hope within the crowd. "While your safety is our top priority, we simply can't contain an entire school to one location for a long duration of time. I hope this news brings some comfort to you all and I hope to see you all at the dance coming this upcoming Sunday." He gave the crowd a gentle smile at the last part. Through all of the strife that they all had to deal with, they at least deserved this speech to end on a good note. He then proceeded to walk off the stage and headed out of one of the exits. He was then met with one of his allies and past friends General James Ironwood.

"Ozpin, as much as I trust you and your little aura syringe," James started and Ozpin quirked an eyebrow. "Do you really think removing the lockdown was wise? What if he plans to attack the school? Or more of you- "

"James even if I did keep the lockdown in effect, they would find other means to leave the school. They are children James. Not soldiers." Ozpin replied as he kept walking back to his office. Unfortunately, this only continued the Generals argument.

"Ozpin, this 'Reaper.' Is merciless." Ironwood said "You've seen it yourself. One of your students has seen it firsthand. Let me put more troops into Vale. The people are on edge as it is." This caused Ozpin to stop right before they made it to the elevator that went up to his office.

"You are correct James." Ozpin said, turning to look at Ironwood. "They are on edge. And bringing more military forces will only make them more paranoid. Trust my students. Trust your students that they will take care of themselves." As Ozpin said this, the elevator doors opened and Ozpin entered and gave Ironwood a nod before ascending to his office.

With Team RWBY:

The members of Team RW(B)Y were now standing outside of their dorm honestly not knowing what to do. After Ruby was given one of those syringes that Pyrrha generously offered to the school, she and her team went back to the infirmary to see that Blake wasn't there. Before they could panic the nurse assured them that she was escorted back to her room. relief set in instantaneously and now each of them were at a loss for words. They each had no idea what to say to her. What could they possibly say to her after what she had been through?

"Hey guys!" the three of them turned to see a familiar monkey faunus walk up to them along with a guy that could only be described as a bluenette.

"Hey Sun." Ruby smiled as they came up to the three. Ruby started to notice her partner blushing at the blue haired guy and she smirked at that. it had been a while since the Ice queen thawed out a bit.

"Is Blake alright?" Sun then asked and the three all looked at each other with a concerned glance. "She wasn't hurt. I know that. I mean is she mentally okay?" They all looked at him with the same concerned look and he sighed a bit.

"Considering what she went through, I'm not surprised." The blue hair guy said in a sympathetic tone. They looked at him and he gave a comforting smile. "The Names Neptune Vasilles. Sun's partner" they nodded at him and Sun stepped forward.

"Can I at least try and talk to her?" he asked to their surprise.

"Sun, I don't think-"

"I was there too." Sun said, cutting off Yang's sentence. Everyone now went wide eyed at this and the faunus ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "I saw you all splitting up last night and when she went off on her own I followed her. Next thing I know I'm hiding in the rafters of a white fang meeting that was hosted by Roman Torchwick. I saw what happened when he… I mean I don't truly understand what she went through but I understand the fear. After what that thing did. And what he was saying… I don't know I just know the fear behind it. So please can I just try and talk to her?" Yang then gave a downcast look and made an exaggerated sigh.

"Okay. Just… be careful alright?" the monkey faunus nodded at this and entered the room, closing the door behind him.

"Yang I'm not sure about this." Weiss said trying to be a voice of reason. Yang was about to reply until Neptune let out a small chuckle.

"Trust me Snow Angel." Neptune said and smirked at her blushing furiously. "He may be loud and sometimes immature, but he can be exactly what Blake needs right now. And that is a good pick me up." He then walked past them and headed out of the dorms.

With Sun and Blake:

Sun entered the room only to see darkness. Not a single ray of light was shining in the room and this worried him a bit. He was about to go to the light switch until Blake called out in the darkness. "Don't turn on the light!" she nearly shrieked. Sobs followed shortly after and Sun simply stood there looking in the direction where the crying came from. He didn't use his night vision to help him out of respect for her not wanting to be seen.

"I assume you heard what I said outside?" Sun asked and his only response was silence. He let out a little breath and sat down on one of the beds. She simply looked at him with a hint of confusion due to him acting calm about this. "If you didn't, well long story short I was there too. In the rafters. Right above him too. Heh." He instantly felt the sting of a slap go across his face. He winced at this, not because of the pain, but because he knew this wasn't a time to be funny.

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM?!" Sun flinched as he covered his ears at her scream. "Where were you when I needed the help?! Where were you when I was hiding under those corpses terrified out of my mind?!" she then saw Sun shoot up and give her a furious look. Akin to the same look the Reaper gave her.

"Hiding in the rafters terrified out of MY mind!" Sun roared and saw that Blake took a step back. "I saw what he did Blake! I heard him laughing too! You honestly think I could just jump down and try to fight him like I did with Roman at the docks?! Of course, not! This guy is a complete psychopath!" he reeled back his anger and took a few breaths to calm himself down. Blake simply starred at the person in front of her and regret started to flow through her being. How could she be so insensitive about this? Of course, he wouldn't try to stop him, he may be rash but certainly not stupid enough to throw his life away. She noticed him walking toward the door with a somewhat defeated look on his face.

"How?" she asked and he stopped in his tracks. "How are you still going around like everything is fine? After what happened?" he simply gave her a toothy grin and shrugged.

"Honestly I know things are bad. Things can get worse too. But I try to find the good in the bad. We now know what that monster is capable of, but now we have some means of fighting back." Blake then saw the syringe in his hand. "And besides, what's the point of living life if all you do is focus on the bad? There can't be bad without good, right?" Blake was a little surprised at his philosophical remark. He was walking towards the door until he turned his head over his shoulder "There's nothing wrong with having a little light in your life." He winked and opened the door, leaving Blake to think on his words.

"She'll be alright." Sun said as he looked at the concerned team in front of him. "Give her a little more time and she'll come around." And with that he followed the same way his partner went.

#

The rest of the week was uneventful due to everything that had transpired. Most were relieved, assuming that the worst was over. Others thought otherwise that it was just beginning. Despite the differences, the dance was upon them all and everyone was happy just to forget the strife and sorrow just for a night. Sun was now walking up to the entrance, the only difference in his clothing being a somewhat buttoned up black shirt and a necktie that he was now wrestling with.

"Stupid… human... neck death trap!" he grunted as he was trying to find a way where it didn't feel like the tie was strangling him.

"You know I can help you with that if you want." He looked behind him to hear that familiar voice and see a gorgeous Blake Belladonna wearing a dress that was scantily clad in its own right, but formal enough to leave much to the imagination. Sun's jaw was slack at the sight and she smirked at this. She then fixed his tie and wrapped one of her arms around his.

"Thank you." She said and Sun snapped out of his dazed state. "I think I needed that talk." He gave her his toothy grin and they headed into the dance together.

The hour passed in an instant as the students were laughing and enjoying the company of others. Whether it be dancing or just socializing, it was a time to relax before they went on missions the next day. As Yang greeted the guests coming in to enjoy there night, Weiss striking up a conversation with Neptune, and Blake was dancing with Sun, Ruby was standing in the corner with punch in her hand. She was looking through the crowd to see if she knew anyone besides her team. She laughed a bit at the awkward dancing that Nora and Ren were entangled in. she then let out another sigh as she looked at her reflection in the punch.

"Enjoying the crowd?" she then looked up to see the headmaster with his signature coffee mug in his hand. She smiled a bit at this and shrugged.

"I'm not one for crowds really. Or fancy dresses. Or these…lady… stilts." She said as she was struggling to find a good footing. Honestly how the heck did Weiss fight in these. She noticed the headmaster let out an amused chuckle.

"You know you can't spend your entire life on the battlefield Ms. Rose." She grumbled at his remark. "It is rare that we all get time to relax and enjoy ourselves like this. Considering the unfortunate events that have transpired as of late." He then looked out into the crowd, eyeing certain individuals for milliseconds. "But we must be grateful for what we have at the moment. And who we have in our lives." He noticed that she shrunk a bit at this and he mentally sighed. It had been three months since his unfortunate passing. Despite the progress, she had made, she was still sore from that subject. "I hope you enjoy your evening Ms. Rose." And with that the headmaster left the student to reflect on his words.

Ruby then noticed a mass of red slowly make its way through the dance floor and noticed that it was Pyrrha. Her head was low and her strides were at a moderately slow pace, she saw the champion make her way up the stairs and Ruby looked down once more at her drink. "I hope some others enjoy it as well." She muttered before taking a drink.

With Pyrrha:

The Spartan was now looking out from the balcony onto the city of Vale. The stars slightly illuminating the night sky as she leaned forward on the railing. She massaged her forearm a bit due to the aura transfer. She was happy that she was able to help and give the students a sense of security but even so, she honestly couldn't feel happy at the moment. Not while she wished she was here with a certain someone. It had only been three months since then but she felt as if he was still with her, as if the door to her dorm room would open and that man with the familiar mop of blonde hair would walk in with his awkward smile to meet her.

But she knew better.

She knew that he was gone and there was no getting him back. she wanted to accept that. Needed to accept the fact that he was gone from her life and needed to move on. she just couldn't though. no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get over him. He was the only one that saw her for who she was and not what her reputation said about her. For Oum's sake he didn't even know her name. He strode up on the first day with false bravado and made a moron out of himself, at least to Weiss. But for her, it was as if she was given a breath of fresh air in the form of this blonde goof. Of course, she thought that it was only a minor crush, but as the months went on, she couldn't' help but fall for him more even if he was oblivious to it. She honestly would give anything, her skills, her talent, her fame, anything just to see his smile.

That stupid, dorky, adorable smile.

In her hands though she carried a small wooden box that she treasured the most from him. She always carried it with her everywhere she went and tonight was no exception. She smiled at the memory of him giving it to her.

 _It was her birthday a few months into the school year and the week before, he went missing. Completely off the grid and it made her and her team worried to death. She would send him constant messages asking if he was alright and where was he. He would only response was that it was his little secret. This scared her half to death due to him not being welcomed by the student body after what happened with Cardin and the Ursa. Despite all of that she and her team still stuck with him and they were near panicking at his disappearance. It was the night of her birthday and she couldn't sleep due to be constantly checking her scroll to see if he answered. Suddenly the door opened up and she saw her leader standing in the doorway fatigued, scratched and bruised to hell. She instantly rushed to him and pulled him into a hug, then following up with a smack from her and screaming where he was and why did he look like that. she was about to hit him again until she saw the wooden box for the first time. He ran his hair through his head and had a squeamish look. "Happy birthday Pyrrha." He told her and she held the box in her hand and opened it up to see an engraving of his and her insignias combined. Music started to emit from the box and she covered her mouth with one of her hands. It was a song she loved hearing her mother sing when she was little and adored the chimes that were sounding harmonious. "As for the scratches, well finding the right tree was a long process. Had to camp out in the emerald forest for a while. Who knew you when you pinned me, you threw me farther than I expected." Her eyes went wide at this and she looked at the front of the box to see a polished indentation in the wood. As if it had been splintered. He noticed her small gasp and he smiled at her. "Yup. I used the same tree you pinned me to during initiation." He was immediately glomped by his partner and he could hear her sobbing, whether it be of joy or sadness he didn't care. She felt his hand go through her hair and began humming along to the song "Happy birthday Pyr."_

She let out a small shudder at the memory, trying to shrug off the grief that came with the memory. She then opened up the box to hear the familiar chimes and nodded her head to the sinking and rising of each tone. And through her shaky voice she began to sing.

"If I could begin to be,

Half of what you think of me,

I could do about anything.

I could even learn how to love."

She shut the box after those lines and immediately covered her face with her arms. She couldn't continue on with it even if she desperately wanted to. Tears streamed down as she leaned over the railing. She honestly didn't want to be here. She wanted to be in her room, alone and curled up, trying her best to forget this night even occurred. She leaned back and was about to go to said destination until something caught her eye on one of the rooftops.

She saw a silhouette of a man looking at her. Her eyes widened as she saw black mist flowing around the silhouette and despite being sort of far, she noticed the two shotguns that the man was holding and her hands balled up into fists. She then saw the man dissipate into smoke and fly away with the breeze. Her look of sorrow morphed into one of Rage as she headed off the balcony. She made her way through the crowd but with more of a vengeful conviction. She received questioning glances but she ignored them all. She reached the entrance and looked up to her destination. She saw the smoke travel in a specific direction before she left the balcony, considering there was only one thing vital to Remnant in that direction, she was pretty confident in her hunch that he was heading to the CCT.

Her hunch was right as she saw the mangled poses of mutilated corpses outside the tower's entrance.

 **IT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN SUCKERS! GAWD DAMN I HAD FEELS LEAKING THROUGH MY EYES WHEN I WROTE THIS! So yea I don't own the song "Love Like You" from Steven Universe. That belongs to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. I didn't want to spoil that little tidbit at the beginning so I hope you enjoyed it. Anyways this now being moved to the crossover section due to mentioning a character from a different universe back in chapter three. Finally know how to change it. Anyways chapter six will be up soon so be ready. Cause shit is about to go down. Leave a comment so I can see if you all enjoyed it and as always, BE FIERCE!**

 **SparkyDapperDab19 SIGNING OFF!**


	6. Chapter 6

**HELLO AGAIN BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! TIS I! SPARKYDAPPERDAB19! And here we are again with another installment of REAPING WITH SORROW! HAHAHAHAHA! Now this is my first fight scene that I have ever written and I have to admit it was really difficult. BUT! …. Yknow I will tell you that after you read this ;)**

 **So I do not own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **(gets smacked in the head with Reinhardt's hammer) OKAY WHAT THE HELL! I WASN'T GOING TO TRY AND STEAL IT…yet.**

 **ENJOY!**

Chapter six

Reaper, Spartans, and potential revelations?

To say that the lobby of the CCT was a bloodbath was an understatement. The champion carefully made her way inside, but not before calling for her weapons via rocket locker. The lobby was decorated with disfigured and dismembered Atlas troops. She gagged at the sight of one hanging from a second-floor balcony by his intestines, as if he was some disgusting chandelier. Pyrrha was now shaking at the hell she just walked into. She wanted to call for help. She knew she needed to report this, but she was terrified that if she even said a word. Whoever, no whatever did this would hear her. She made her way to the elevator and pressed the call button. She noticed that it was coming up from a sub area and assumed that the Reaper was down there. She knew this was suicide to some extent. She saw clips of him and heard what Blake said about her experience with him. And yet here she was about to descend to her death.

She gasped as the doors opened to see four more bodies topple out of the elevator. All of them were missing limbs and had some organs exposed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before stepping over the corpses and closing the elevator doors. She pressed the lowest sub floor and hoped that maybe she didn't find anything. A sliver of her being prayed that she was too late. That she wouldn't have to go up against this man. For oums sake she saw what he did. Why was she still going through with this?

Right then, the image of the man destroying her partner's grave flashed in her memory. Her grip on her weapons tightened at this and she let out a raspy breath. She knew why now. She didn't care how but she would make him pay for what he did to her partner. He already went through enough. He had to deal with a bully blackmailing him. Having said bully turn the whole school against him by revealing his secret. And then he had to die saving all of them in their first mission. Her partner did NOT need any more strife. If she wasn't doing this for her…

Then she was doing this for him.

"I may see you soon." She quietly prayed and then the doors opened and Pyrrha dashed out. She had Milo in its rifle form and she lined up the sights on the man operating on one of the computers. She then stopped in her tracks as she was lining up a shot to his head. Her eyes narrowed as she noticed the skull mask resting on the desk next to him. She saw him straighten his posture and let out something resembling a grumble. He reached for the mask only for it to be shot off the table. He simply shrugged and the Spartan noticed the mask swirling into dust only to go to the man's face. She saw the man crack his neck and immediately turn complete one-eighty degrees, pulling out his infamous shotguns and aiming them at the Spartan. she braced her shield for gunfire, but didn't feel any impact. She looked over the shield to see the man giving her a questioning glance. His head was cocked in a confused manner and he simply starred at her. She took this opportunity of hesitation and rushed at the Reaper. She ducked under his overhand strike and attempted to sweep kick him, only for his legs to dissolve into mist and he flew over her head, firing shots as he did so. She easily blocked the projectiles and threw her shield at him only for it to phase past through him. He let out a blood curdling chuckle and fired a well-placed shot at the champions leg.

She screamed in pain as the dust pellets dug into her flesh and she fell over. She scrambled to the nearest cover as the Reaper let out a flurry of shots. She ripped a part of dress off and wrapped around her thigh, doing her best to stop the bleeding. She then began to hear the monster chuckling at her current state of hiding. She cursed herself. She had no way to best him. Every attack she threw at him seemed to phase through him and simply dissipate into mist. Mist….

THAT WAS IT!

Pyrrha's eyes widened in disbelief, trying to comprehend how idiotic she was acting. Of course, he was beating her. She was treating him like any other opponent while he was on an entire different caliber. Even if she didn't have a syringe on her she didn't care because she was the source of the aura syringe.

She looked over her shoulder to see him searching through the room, scanning for any signs of movement. She then looked above him to see one of his unfortunate victims pinned to the ceiling with a metal pipe. She grimaced a bit at what she was about to do but then gave a determined look. She raised her hand and activated her semblance. The pole struggled a bit to come loose but as soon as it did, the body fell to the ground and the Reaper turned around to see a pipe fly straight at his face and he chuckled as it phased through his right eye.

Pyrrha let out a roar and he turned around to see the Spartan charging at him at blinding speeds with her aura wrapping around her fist. She made contact and the Reaper was sent flying across the room. she let out a few exasperated gasps of air as the pain in her leg was flaring once more. She did her best to ignore it and summoned Milo and Akuko with her polarity. She somewhat limped to the murderer who was struggling to stand. She then channeled her aura to her foot and stomped on his back. another grunt of pain came from the man and she dug deeper into his back. she then raised Milo above his head

"This is for Jau- "she was interrupted by his body exploding with smoke. It was now flooding the room in pitch darkness. Pyrrha was now coughing relentlessly as she was trying to get a grip on her surroundings, only to find more darkness within the smoke. She was now darting her head in all directions trying her best to find the exit. She thought she had him in checkmate, unfortunately she only had him in check and was not expecting this vortex of nightmares with her in the middle of it. As she looked through the darkness, her body went rigid as she saw a pair of Red eyes starring practically into her soul. She saw that the pair of eyes was now closing in on her at a slow pace. Her instincts were screaming at her to run, fight, pick up her shield, anything! But she just stood there, frozen in place as the two blood colored orbs approached her. They were now three feet away from her and she saw them furrow in what appeared to be anger. She then felt the barrel of one of his guns on her forehead and she closed her eyes. This was it. This was how she was going to die. Alone, afraid and miserable. Miserable for the fact that she didn't even feel like she was herself. Not ever since his death. Just like Ruby, she couldn't even say his name. not without curling up into a ball and crying. She braced for her end and let out one last breath.

"I'm so sorry Jaune." She said, hoping that somehow on the other side, he heard her apology. Tears once more streamed down her face as she waited for the familiar sound to go off. For the Reaper to pull the trigger and end this.

But nothing came.

She opened her eyes to see that the smoke was gone. The room was mostly destroyed due to being caught in its wake, but she could now see what was in front of her and what she did see was the Reaper lowering his weapon slowly. She was confused at this, but then felt a tug around her neck. She saw that he had ripped the necklace that had her compact music box attached to it. The last thing she had that was from her leader, was now in the hands of a psychopath. Her faced morphed into fury as she tried to reach for it, only to be thrown over his shoulder and slammed into several monitors. She was about to get up until she saw him standing over her. He crouched down to her and lifted her head to his eye level. He then let out what she could assume was a frustrated sigh and she felt the hard impact of the handle of one of his guns slamming into her temple, knocking her out unconscious.

The Reaper then walked over to the monitor that he was extorting information from. He grinned to see the files being almost complete. He pressed a few more keys and inserted his little program that will give him the edge over his enemies. His hand clenched in slight frustration as he looked over to the knocked-out champion. He knew what he was doing. He was about to wage a one-man war on Vale, and not just against the huntsmen and council. The same people that had Roman wrapped around their fingers would be coming for him soon. But that was another massacre for another day. He noticed that the files were uploaded to his scroll and his program was installed into the system. He grabbed his scroll and headed to the exit, but not until he was in front of the Spartans slumbering figure.

He crouched down and gently ran his hand through her hair. Unknown to him she was on the borderline of being knocked out. She saw through her slightly opened eye he then opened the music box and placed it next to her. She heard the chimes sound off and she wanted to desperately cover her ears. This song was emotional torture to her and here she was, forced to not move an inch while the song played to a certain point. The Reaper then stood up and turned away. She was about to drift back into her subconscious until she heard his voice. His cold, raspy, but delicate voice

"I always thought I might be bad,

Now I'm sure that it's true,

cause I think you're so good.

And I'm nothing like you."

Her eyes widened and she forced herself out of her dazed state. She got off the ground and darted her head in all directions. She saw the room was in the same state. Mostly destroyed with mutilated corpses everywhere. But the murderer was gone. Nowhere to be seen. Her fists tightened as she let out a scream of rage. She didn't know why she did, she just needed to get it all out. She threw her shield that wedged itself into the concrete wall and she collapsed to her knees, letting out strangled sobs.

She continued this for ten minutes until she heard the elevator doors open. Pyrrha grabbed Milo and readied it, tears still prevalent in her eyes as she eyed down her target.

Only to see Headmaster Ozpin and General Ironwood standing there.

The General had a look of horror and disgust at the grizzly scene in front of him while the headmaster simply pinched the bridge of his nose. They honestly couldn't catch a break with this man. It seemed wherever he went, death and sorrow followed. Ozpin then walked up to the quivering champion and gave her a concerned look. He noticed her leg was bleeding mildly and she looked very worse for wear.

"Ms. Nikos, are you alright?" he asked her and she shook her head. The tears were coming back and he slowly lowered his head to see the music box on the ground. He picked it up and handed it to Pyrrha. "Come on now." He said gently and put her right arm around his shoulder so she wouldn't have to walk on her wounded leg. "Let's get you to the infirmary." She nodded at this. Ozpin noticed Ironwood about to say something until Ozpin snapped.

"James as much as I would love to hear your whining and self-indignant complaints, can we PLEASE not do this here. Not when she needs help." The headmaster practically hissed and Ironwood reeled back. never before had the general seen Ozpin so furious to lose his nerve. He then looked out to see the bodies of his troops that were sent to guard the CCT and back to the headmaster.

Could he really blame him?

On the way, back up to the lobby Pyrrha was deep in thought. She saw what the man was capable of. How merciless he was and yet he spared her. He also hesitated in the beginning of the fight. another concern arose when she noticed that when he shot her, he had an opening to her torso. So why hit her leg? These questions scrambled around her brain until she came to the last one. How did he know that song? There were only three people who knew that song. She considered it a Nikos family secret. but the problem was her and her mother knew that song. The other person was… her partner. He discovered the song through her mother when he made the music box. But he was dead. Gone forever.

...Right?

 **Oh poor Pyrrha. And some of you readers thought I was going to off her. HA! No no no. honestly I'm still debating who I should kill (GOD THAT SOUNDS MORBID) Well despite my cruel intentions to some of these characters, I hope you all enjoyed it. I really do love writing this and seeing all of your reactions. Now to discuss the fight scene. It was difficult to make it sound exciting and not too bland, yet I wanted it to be as blunt and ruthless as I could make it. This may have not filled your reading appetite but let me say that this is just the beginning my friends. More fights are sure to come and I hope you're all excited as I am.**

 **Another thing that has come up. People on the comment board and I'm guessing readers who haven't said anything yet are all wondering how did this all come to be for our favorite dork knight. Now. I won't tell you of course (Honestly where's the fun in that?) but let me say that you will get your answers. It isn't a plot hole that I missed, I am intending to do a few chapters to show you all how this came to be. Unfortunately, it will take a little while but I am sure you will all like it. The eighteenth is still the deadline for at most two more chapters so, yay! Leave a comment and tell me what you think! As always beautiful readers and writers. BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	7. Chapter 7

**HELLO ONCE AGAIN! Here I am with another chapter and I am very happy to see that this story has over a hundred favorites and follows! I am really happy that you are all enjoying this and more will soon come! In the meantime, I finally succeeded in capturing the rights to these franchises! (Hears a beeping noise from underneath the rights to see a junkrat C4) …. Shit well I do not own the characters or story of RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **ENJOY YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!**

Chapter seven

The descent into madness

 _Frantic footsteps could be heard as the blonde knight sprinted through the forever fall forest. Tears were falling as his breath was hitching every few moments as he heard other sounds of movement behind him. How did it come to this? Why did it come to this?_

 _He was snapped from his train of thought when he felt a sharp pain go through his left leg and he let out a cry while crashing into the mud. He struggled to get up and when he did he faced three silhouettes that all had malicious intentions towards him. He could feel their negative auras around him and he quivered a bit. He was scared. Terrified of what they were all planning to do with him and he grit his teeth in anger. He felt so stupid. Stupid for trusting his gut, stupid for believing that there was still some good in them. stupid enough to believe that they were still his friends._

 _He unsheathed his signature sword. A legendary weapon in past generations, but a hand-me-down for him. He extended his shield and readied his stance. He felt his aura healing his leg already and his glare intensified on the three in front of him. He let out a roar and charged straight at them before everything flashed to white._

The hooded man shot up from his slumber to be greeted by the familiar tickling feeling of agony as he saw parts of his body dematerialize into smoke only to rematerialize back into his body parts. He sighed as this was his normal routine in the mornings. Wake up from a dream of himself… back then, feel the pain flare when he woke, seeing his body go into a frenzy, all to be materialized once more. He got up from his cot he was sleeping on and let the smoke swirl around him, dressing him with his black cloak and assortment of supplies he needed for the day. He looked down at his left hand to see the bone mask materialize and he closed his eyes, dawning the mask and let out a breath of relief. He then pulled the hood over his head and headed out the door to see his new White Fang recruits loading assortments onto the train and grinned as he saw them looking at him with fear. Of course, they feared him. They knew what he had done to their fellow White Fang and if he saw an ounce of defiance from them, well they would be his next example.

"I take it the prosthetic is working?" the masked man asked with a stern tone making Roman Torchwick go rigid. Sure, he was the new leader of this operation and was a merciless killer, but he took care of the assets that were of use to him. Such as the man with the robotic foot. The bowler hat wearing arms dealer turned around and nodded nervously. Reaper cocked an eyebrow at this. Really? This was the infamous Roman Torchwick? A quivering mess that would comply with anyone that threatened his life? "Keep loading the cargo." The hooded man said as he passed by Roman who was still somewhat shaking. "This plan is a go in twelve hours." He saw Roman's eyes go wide at this.

"Twelve hours?!" Roman exclaimed and he regretted his words instantaneously. The hooded man was now inches away from him with his head slightly tilted.

"Is that a problem?" sarcasm was dripping from the man's voice as he saw the quivering intensify on the dapper looking redhead. "Good." He then walked away to see how the planning was coming along.

After all, war was coming to Vale.

With Team RWBY and NPR:

The wind whipped through all of the seven students that were on board of the bullhead heading toward mountain Glenn. The bullhead was filled with nothing but silence amongst the seven of them and with good reason. It had only been twelve hours since the tragedy that occurred at the CCT tower and twelve hours since Pyrrha was released from the infirmary. Her aura healed her wound with ease and she was ready for the mission that they would accept. The Spartan grew frustrated though as she kept asking why they were going to the southeast region of Vale, only to be answered with vauge excuses from the team she was supporting. This caused a strain in the team dynamic as she was reminded that she wasn't the leader, only support along with her other teammates by none other than the heiress herself. Her fists clenched at this fact. She was mad that she was suddenly forced on this mission right after what she had been through. She was mad that she didn't have time to process what happened and who or what she was fighting in the tower.

As they landed along the outskirts of the town the two teams split up to easily eliminate the grim existing in the area. Dr. Oobleck went off and joined up with team RWBY while NPR operated as a single unit to scout around the outer rim of the abandoned city. The three of them were quiet the whole time they eliminated the grim and Oobleck noticed from a distance how malicious they were at the beasts and let out a concerned sigh. He wanted to talk to them with both the obligation he had as a teacher and just out of sheer concern, but he knew like the other times with other teachers before, they would just push him away. He saw the three continue into the city and then went to join the other team he was shadowing.

As the day went on, the three of them cleared out most of the grim in their assigned area and was about to head back to camp until they heard a slamming noise. Pyrrha and Ren turned to see Nora slamming Magnihield into a somewhat destroyed wall.

"It isn't fair!" she yelled with anger as she slammed her hammer once more into the wall. "Why didn't we have a choice of where we wanted to go?! Why do we have to follow others and just stay behind the rest?!" Ren was about to approach her until the bomber pointed at Pyrrha. "I mean for Oum's sake Pyrrha! You fought him. You went toe to toe with a psychotic murderer and yet here you are in a grim infested city with us! While Blake only witnessed what he is capable of and she was pampered until she was emotionally stable!" Ren reeled back slightly at her hurtful words. This was the first time he saw Nora truly angry at their recent misfortunes. He was about to respond until he saw Pyrrha simply approach her and looked at her with a comforting smile.

"So what?" Nora was a little surprised at her response. "So what if they think we aren't important? So what if they think that they can just use us like tools? All it's doing is proving to them that were stronger than they think." She then put a hand on Nora's shoulder. "All we can do at the moment is continue to prove them wrong." She then saw that the bomber's attitude increased a bit and she was once again dawning a smile and began to follow them back to camp. Ren had a puzzled look on his face as his partner passed by him. He knew better that Nora wasn't back to her normal self completely, but this would do for now. He then looked over to his teammate and saw that her troubling look hadn't disappeared yet and he approached her.

"Were you truly scared?" Pyrrha looked to her left to see Ren with a questioning glance. "During the fight. I know you haven't said anything about it since the-"

"I was absolutely terrified." Pyrrha interrupted him and he grew silent at her response. "He was relentless. Malicious even. But… almost familiar in the way he fought when he wasn't using his mist. For some reason my aura contacted with him and I could actually land solid blows." Ren nodded at this while trying to picture the fight in his head. "I was shocked when he didn't kill me. Simply knocked me out. It confuses me because despite actually causing harm, being a serious threat, he didn't kill me. Yet he massacres others who would have never reached his level." She left her two teammates to think about this as they made it back to their campsite. They were greeted by the others and they then discussed what they went through in their mission and as soon as night fell on them, they all decided to rest for their next day of exterminating.

Ruby Rose was sitting at her lookout, looking around to see any movement. She was starting to doze off until she heard the familiar whining of the corgi she secretly brought along with them. She was about to pet Zwei until she saw him bolt off out of their campsite. Confused at this, she decided to follow him through the abandoned city. Ruby was a few feet from her dog until she heard him growling at something. She peaked around the corner to see two white fang grunts walking around the dark streets. The rose let out a slight gasp at her revelation and decided to call her team on her scroll only to find that she had no reception. Ruby cursed at this and was about to head back to camp until she felt the earth shake a bit from below. She lost her balance as the ground collapsed underneath her, accidently tossing her weapon in the violent shaking. She screamed as she descended into the darkness below. The last thing she heard was Zwei barking.

The same two White fang grunts then opened the entrance to the underground facility only to see an enormous hole in the ceiling and a girl that was laying with the rubble. The two grunts rushed forward, looking over the huntress in training and she was now stirring. One was about to knock her out completely until the other put his hand up. A sinister grin was growing on his face.

"Wait." He said, still keeping his grin. "I prefer it when they watch." This earned a groan from his partner.

"Really man? It's been what, a week since you got any? C'mon, let's just bring her to the boss." His words fell on mute ears as the wolf faunus was now unbuckling his pants and grabbing Ruby by her hair. She let out a yelp and the faunus was now having a predatory look. His partner now turned his back and shrugged.

"You know what fine. Don't blam-" *BLAM* the wolf faunus holding Ruby turned his head to see his partner with a gaping hole in his chest. Gasping could be heard as the grunt toppled over to show their boss. The wolf faunus was now struggling to button his pants as he saw the Reaper walk over to him. He crushed the corpses skull with an effortless stomp, emphasizing that he was not happy with the one in front of him. He then noticed the grunt's disheveled clothes and a half unconscious Ruby Rose being held by her hair. The mist around him began to swirl violently and he grabbed the potential rapist by the top of his skull, using his thumb to gouge out his right eyeball. Screams were now echoing throughout the cave as the Reaper through the man against a nearby wall. He walked towards the man who was now cowering at his towering figure.

Ruby was half awake when her eyes widened a bit when she saw the reaper hold out his right hand. Smoke was now swirling once more but this time it was taking a shape of a familiar looking weapon. A weapon she thought that was long lost.

Crocea Mors.

The Reaper then grasped the sword tightly and knelt down in front of the grunt who was now clutching his eye socket. A yelp of pain could be heard as she saw the hooded man grabbing one of the wolf ears. Ruby was now wide awake as she saw the sword slowly sawing through the wolf ear and screams of unadulterated agony now were echoing out of the hole and into the city. He didn't cut off ear through and through though. He delicately used the sword to scrape his scalp and move to the next ear as the screams continued. Ruby then saw him rip the rest of the flesh off the bloody ears and held them in his now crimson claws. The wolf faunus was now convulsing and vomiting due to the intense pain and in the span of a few seconds he keeled over with his eyes rolled back.

Ruby was now shaking at what she had just witnessed and she tried her best to get far away from this monster she was now facing. "Fucking animal." She heard him say and the sword vanished in a mirage of smoke. He then faced the red hooded scythe wielder and slowly made his way to her in almost a cautious manner. She tried to back away, but she felt his cold grip latch around her arm and he dragged her down deeper into the facility.

The five students and their overseer all shot up wide awake as they heard a scream of pain make its way across the city. Yang scrambled to her feet as she looked around for her sister.

"Where's Ruby?" she asked only to be answered by Zwei crashing through the front door in a small Zwei shaped impression and was barking haphazardly. Yang knew this was his way of telling her to follow him and she did. The rest of her team and NPR followed only to see a massive hole in the ground and Crescent Rose next to it. Yang collapsed the weapon in its combat form and was about to jump into the hole until Oobleck stopped her.

"I will not object to your next course of action Ms. Xio Long, but let me lead. You are my students after all." He then jumped into the darkness and the rest followed. They were looking around the cavern to see that it looked man-made. "I don't believe it. They are actually still intact. They all looked to see the doctor examine the cavern below them. "These were used as an underground transit system for Vale to reach Mountain Glen. Due to the grim attacks above though, the people were forced to relocate underground where a cave-in occurred and the grim…" he stopped himself in respect for the ones that had fallen then.

The silence was broken with a slight scream. They turned to see Blake rush back towards the group. She fell to her knees and vomited. Everyone became disgusted and confused at this. "Blake! What happened?!" Yang asked, only to be responded with only pointing behind her. They all looked to see the body of a mangled White fang grunt. One of his eyes were missing as blood still spurt from where his ears used to be. The scent of bile and blood mixing into a twisted concoction just then hitting the six that gasped at the corpse. They all now had the urge to vomit at this but kept it in. Yang was now slowly beginning to panic for Ruby's safety and Oobleck noticed this. Before he let her go further deep into the tunnel, he stopped her.

"Ms. Xio Long. I know you are concerned for your sister. We all are. But please promise me that you will stay with the group." They didn't know what they were up against and the doctor did not want his students to end up like the corpse in front of them. she nodded at this and the brawler helped her partner up as they all followed the blood trail descending into the darkness.

 **YEEESSSS MORE! MORE FOR YOU BEAUTIFUL READERS AND WRITERS! HAHAHAHA I am once more, happy to say that this story has now made the triple digits in faves and follows. I know that isn't really momentous in hindsight but it means the world to me that you guys and gals are enjoying this. More chapters to come before the eighteenth, then I make a new deadline. Don't worry your pretty heads the deadline won't be longer than the last one. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed the latest (and even more gory) chapter of Reaping with Sorrow. Leave a comment if you want and as always BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	8. Chapter 8

**WHAT?! ANOTHER CHAPTER?! SO SOON?! HELL YEAH! Beautiful people here it is. Another chapter of Reaping with sorrow. Two chapters in one day! I AM ON A ROLL! I'm sorry everyone for my excitement I just had a lot of fun writing this chapter.**

 **So I would try to steal the rights but I just came back from being blown into the stratosphere from junkrats mine so let me just say I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum , Rooster Teeth, and blizzard.**

 **ENJOY!**

Chapter 8

Beyond the Mask

Ruby wouldn't lie, she was scared of the man dragging her deep into the tunnels. Since he grabbed her, he hadn't made eye contact with her and this made her uneasy. she saw he was willing to go the extra mile to get his point across to anyone that he had no qualms with murder, but she was noticing that he was uneasy about him taking her deeper. She bit her tongue until they were almost at the end of the tunnel that led to the base.

"Where did you find it?" Ruby growled and the man looked down at her. She had a look of rage on her face as her glare intensified. "That sword. Where did you get it." The Reaper simply shrugged at her question and pressed on, forcing to follow.

"What does it matter to you?" He responded in the same growling tone and Ruby gritted her teeth at his response.

"It was my friend's sword." She said and looked at her feet. The hooded man softly grumbled at her response and continued on. the tow then made their way to the crowd of White Fang and Roman Torchwick that were still loading more cargo onto the train. They looked to see their boss with the huntress in training and immediately stopped to stare at the two. Roman walked past the grunts and eyed Ruby with his sly smile. He was about to make a quip of her current state until she was shoved forward at the criminal.

"Take her to the holding area here." Reaper then told Roman. His voice then rose so that the other grunts would listen. "And for those that think of harming her." He then threw the pair of wolf ears in front of the crowd of now disgusted White Fang members. Some were now resisting the urge to vomit as the stench rose through the crowd. "That will be the outcome." He then said as he turned around and started to walk off, only to stop as he heard gunfire coming from the front of the compound. His hands clenched in anger as he heard yelling from some of the White Fang grunts. He then saw smoke coming from one of the buildings and saw six people come out into his sights. He lightly flinched as he saw huntresses and huntsmen in training coming his way. "Roman! Get the train moving. This operation is a go." He was hearing the sounds of protest and to everyone's shock he shot into the crowd of White Fang, killing at least one of the grunts and he growled at them. This made everyone tense and Roman started his way to the train. He then looked at Ruby who now had a slight look of horror aimed at him. He then dissipated and the smoke trail led straight to the front of the train.

"Ruby!" Yang said as she wrapped her sister in a quick hug and handed the rose her scythe. Ruby smiled at this and unfolded Crescent Rose. She then looked at her Professor and her friends and nodded.

"Thanks guys. But the train is starting up. We need to get on!" she said as she started following the train that was starting at a slow pace. The others followed and as they hurdled onto the roof of the rear cart, they looked ahead to see some Atlasthenian paladins activating and starting to charge towards them. Ruby then looked back to see Oobleck, Ren, and Nora nod at her.

"You go with them Pyrrha." Nora said as her hammer switched to a grenade launcher. "I think it's time for a rematch." Pyrrha grinned at her statement and looked to Ruby. She nodded in approval as she gestured for her team and the champion to follow her, leaving the others to take on the mechs.

As they ducked passed the paladins that were approaching, gunfire and explosions could be heard from behind them. they smiled knowing that Nora and the others were having a good time. The five of them were now hopping over the railcars until Pyrrha noticed something.

"Wait!" She called out and the others saw that she was looking through an open hatch with wide eyes. They all looked down to see a device hooked to numerous wires with a digital counter slowly counting down the seconds. "Is that a bomb?!" she exclaimed and the others were now in the same worried state of mind. Blake jumped down to the car links only to see that detached itself already. She made this known to her team and the other four leaped forward to the next railcar. They saw the explosion go off and the tunnel rupture a bit. They thought nothing of it at first seeing that their friends and teacher were still alright. There thoughts then turned to ones of fear as they started to see grim swarm out of the debris that the bomb caused. They looked into the next railcar to see another bomb.

Their fear grew as they went from car to car seeing more of the same bombs and more grim coming their way. The four then dropped down to the inside the car that was right before the control room to see Roman Torchwick shaking violently in the corner. The five of them were confused at the sight as they saw a multi colored girl trying to calm him down.

"NO NEO I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! THAT THING IS A MONSTER! A-A FUCKING MONSTER!" he was now in hysterics and thrashing about as the smaller girl was trying to restrain him. The five huntresses in training notice the man looked like he had just seen his worst nightmares come to life. Ruby stepped forward, only for Roman's partner to come forward with her parasol in a battle position. Ruby was about to comply to the fight until Roman spoke out again!

"JUST GO!" he shrieked as he was now curling up further into the corner. Everyone became confused at this and he continued. "JUST LET THEM GO NEO! I DON'T CARE! JUST DON'T MAKE ME SEE HIS FACE AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!" Neo slowly went back to her normal stance and ran up to criminal, trying to snap him out of his hysterics.

Unknown to the students, Roman was trying to make the Reaper stop the train, saying that he was going to kill them all. Neo was concerned at this point due to the fact that if Roman was saying that a plan was risky, then it was high time to bail. Their new boss simply removed his mask and grabbed roman by the collar. Neo didn't see his face but she could hear the screams of horror coming from Roman and that was something she didn't want to hear again.

The students looked on at the quivering mess that was once Roman Torchwick and then decided it would be best to leave them alone. They charged through the door to the controls to see the man that had been causing all of them immense pain these past few days facing away from them. Ruby was about to speak up until she felt the train accelerate at an extremely fast rate. She saw the masked man push the accelerator all the way to maximum and snap the throttle in his hands, causing the train to only gain more speed. They could hear laughing coming from the man as they saw his shoulders buckle in a fit of laughter.

"Why are you doing this?" His laughing ceased as soon as Pyrrha asked this question. He then turned to see them all now ready to fight him and he looked on at them with a bored stare.

"Even if I wanted to tell you," the man started before he had a small fit of chuckling. "It appears our time is up." He then disappeared into his black smoke and made his way through the air vent. The girls then looked to see that they were approaching a barricaded wall of rubble with only seconds to spare. They all braced for impact until everything went white.

Ruby was the first to stir from her unconscious state. As she got up, she noticed that the five of them were all in the town square of Vale. She heard familiar growls from behind her and saw various species of grim flooding from the hole the derailed train made. The rest then got up and noticed the same results Ruby was seeing. Utter chaos. It hadn't even been a full minute since they all awoke and grim were already destroying the city. They each readied their weapons and leapt into the fray of red eyes and sharp teeth.

The five of them were holding off the grim and creating a space for them to retreat until a king Taijiutu emerged from the hole and bared its fangs. The five of them were bracing for it to attack when they heard a familiar war cry come from the hole. Nora then emerged with Magnihield reeled back for a massive blow and she slammed the hammer right on the snake's head. They could see the shockwave of the attack run through the body of the grim and explode out the other end. Nora landed smoothly in front of the five and gave Pyrrha a mock salute.

"Can't let you have all the fun." She said and Pyrrha smiled. She then saw Ren, Oobleck, and a corgi emerge from the hole as well. "Did you find Reaper?" Nora then asked with more of a concerned voice and Pyrrha's look then saddened a bit.

"He got away at the last second." Nora cursed a bit at this but then bounced back with her signature smile. "At least we have grim to take our frustration out on." she said and the others agreed with her as they all charged once more into the battle.

The battle raged on with the huntsmen ending up the victors. As things were heating up, Team CFVY showed up along with other teams to lend a hand in the breach. After those reinforcements came, Ironwood ordered his troops to help contend with the stragglers that were still attacking. The fighting continued while an irritated Glynda Goodwitch arrived, swatting grim aside as if they were nothing but infuriating flies as she used her semblance to cover the breach. With the source of the grim closed off, picking off the remaining monsters was the last objective. When the fighting ended however, everyone still felt tense. Tense that despite their victory, the one responsible for it was still out there.

Weiss was one of the few that was infuriated by this and she decided to isolate herself for a bit to let off some steam. In her frustration, she forgot to mention this to her team and decided to head off a little further into the city while her team and NPR were all resting at the battleground. The six of them all celebrating that they fought back and kept the city safe. Their celebrating was cut short though as they saw Roman Torchwick struggling with some Atlas soldiers.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER YOU IDIOTS!" he shouted and made them all have slightly concerned looks. "HE'S PROBABLY OFF KILLING YOU ALL AT THIS MOMENT! YOU THINK STOPPING THIS WILL END IT?!" they took consideration in his words and were about to ignore the rest of his frantic rambling until he said something that caught all of their interests. "THE FUNNIEST THING ABOUT THIS IS THAT HE'S JUST A FUCKING KID! I BET HE HASN'T EVEN HAD SEX YET! HOW COULD HE WITH THAT FACE OF HIS?! HAHAHAHAHA!" with that he was forced into a bullhead, leaving a baffled group of students and huntsmen. Ruby then looked around a bit and she gained a worried look.

"Guys? Where's Weiss?" she asked and now everyone became worried at this. Ruby then felt a notification on her scroll and her eyes widened as she saw the notification that her partner's aura was in the red and showed a location via GPS. Ruby instantly got up and went in said direction with the others following her.

With Weiss, five minutes earlier:

How could she and her team let this happen? They gave it everything they could but no matter what they did, the grim stormed Vale and lives were lost. They didn't stop Reaper, they didn't prevent the breach, and now they were back to square one on possible leads. Yes, they did stop the grim, but if they were faster in the beginning, maybe the Reaper wouldn't have killed as many people as he did today. She let out a sigh of frustration as she made her way further down the abandoned street. She then stopped in her tracks when she heard something from behind her.

She readied Mynaster and turned around, ready to attack the one that was behind her. Her eyes widened as she saw the shrouded figure of the one responsible for all of this destruction slowly clapping as he made his way to her. He was now a few feet away as he leaned a bit forward, emphasizing his sarcasm on the last clap. Her grip on her weapon was slightly shaking at this and the heiress wasn't sure if it was from her exhaustion from the battle, or the immense fear from the man in front of her.

"I have to admit I am impressed that you all survived." He said as he was now only two feet away from her. He noticed her shaking and chuckled a bit at this. "It took a while to get those bombs prepped. Color me surprised when I see you all come out alive." She then hardened her glare at him.

"I am NOT afraid of you." She growled and the Reaper turned once more into smoke, but this time retaining the top part of his body.

"That may be true." He said as he started circling around her. "But you are afraid of what I can be." She shuddered at how twisted his voice sounded. "You're scared that no matter what you do, no matter how far you run, and no matter where you hide, your secrets will catch up to you. And that's what I am." He said as he grasped Weiss's head. "Behind this mask is not a monster, but your most disgusting secret." Before she could question this, she felt her lungs gape a bit and wasn't able to breathe. She was making choking noises as she looked down at herself to see the Reaper's smoke traveling through her nose, ears and mouth, suffocating her from the inside out. She saw the smoke emerging from the beds of her fingernails as they convulsed or completely crack by the pressure. She wanted to scream. Wanted to call for help. Wanted to get out of this alive, but her grasp soon loosened and her vison was slowly going dark. The last thing she would hear was his demented laughter and she was literally squeezing the life out of her.

Current Time:

Suddenly her vision came back and instead of laughter she heard a cry of pain come from her assailant. She fell to the ground as she was gasping for air. She heaved and coughed as she tried to see what happened and why she wasn't dead yet. Weiss looked up to see the Reaper struggle as he yanked a syringe from his shoulder. Weiss then felt a pair of arms help her up and she saw Ruby supporting her. She then looked at the man in front of her giving out strangled cries as the smoke was now disappearing. Ruby was smiling with tears to see that Weiss was still alive. Weiss noticed that her partner's happy look turned to anger as she looked at the thrashing man.

"NOW PYRRHA!" she shrieked and the Reaper looked to see Pyrrha aiming Milo in her javelin form and letting her weapon rip through the air. It was a direct hit and they saw his mask fly off his face. He recoiled at this and fell face first a few feet away from the others as the smoke cleared. His cries of pain still remained though. They noticed though that his deep, raspy voice was now reverting somehow. The rest of the two teams along with Goodwitch caught up with the three of them and were all now ready to fight him. His voice was still reverting as he was now making grunts of slight pain while standing up. The students and teachers were all now puzzled now. As he kept making noises of pain, they realized that his voice was now becoming more familiar.

They looked on to see the man's head covered by his hood as he kept making disgruntled noises, only to reel his head back and let out another cry of unmeasurable pain. They all went wide eyed as they heard the now familiar sound of a man that they all knew. His hood fell back and they all saw the familiar mop of blonde hair along with the same blue eyes that they were all used to seeing three months ago, despite him seething through his teeth, they all knew this man.

After all, they all went to his funeral.

Ren and Nora went wide eyed as they looked on to see the man that was in front of them. Nora dropped her weapon to put her hands to her mouth while tears were forming. Ren simply looked on with nothing but shock, still trying to comprehend who he was looking at.

Goodwitch had a similar reaction to Ren. She nearly went slack jawed at the person who was behind the mask. She couldn't believe it. Even if it was who she knew it was, she couldn't process it.

Weiss, Blake, and Yang felt as if their entire bodies froze when they saw him. Their bodies either completely rigid or shaking uncontrollably. They saw his dark glare towards the three of them and they shuddered a bit. Unlike the other too, the heiress was now on the brink of breaking down. She now knew what he meant by her most disgusting secret.

Ruby had no restraint on her tears when she saw him without his hood. How? How did this happen to him? How on Remnant did this happen? How did he become this? She remembered him back during their first few months at Beacon and remembered how kind and innocent he was to others. How the hell did he turn into this?!

Pyrrha was the worst of all though. just like the others, shock was the foundation of the emotions that were overflowing through her and she dropped her shield while falling to her knees. As soon as his hood came off, her doubts on his identity vanished as everything made sense now. Her aura reacting to his, how he didn't kill her back at the CCT, and how he knew her song. Despite now knowing this, it didn't help as she was now trying her best to comprehend the fact that he was the one responsible for every death that the Reaper committed.

That the Reaper and Jaune Arc were one and the same.

 **HAHAHAHAHA! THE REVEAL IS HERE! Damn this is really coming along well and I am happy that you are all enjoying this story. I can't believe that it has been only a week since I started this. Anyways this will be a short author note so leave a review if you want and as always you beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright everyone. Here it is. This is the longest one yet and I hope you all enjoy this. I want to make a joke about the rights but this chapter was something else to write. Anyways I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **Everyone enjoy.**

Chapter 9

Birth of a monster

They all looked at the one they once called their friend as he rolled his neck to get the rest of the pain out of his system. The blonde simply looked on with now a bored expression as he saw the reactions of shock and horror among them all. Ruby was the one that spoke up first.

"J-Jaune?" she asked with a shaky voice and he simply looked her way. He gave her a slight smirk and shrugged a bit.

"Yea Rubes its me." Her hands cupped over her mouth as she was stifling her gasps. That voice was on point. They all heard him and he sounded exactly like he did three months ago, when they all thought he died. He then folded his arms and cocked an eyebrow at the group who were simply staring at him, not knowing what to say. What could they say? Their friend had come back from the dead and was now confirmed as the murderer that was responsible for everything that just happened.

He then saw Pyrrha stand up and he noticed she was not happy at this new revelation. He smirked a bit and walked forward. As soon as he took his first step they all took a step back. He let out a small chuckle at this and then saw that Pyrrha was now walking towards him. He internally sighed as he saw the livid expression on her face. He wasn't able to dematerialize at the moment so whatever pain he was about to receive, he was going to receive in full. She was now a foot away from him. Neutral expression facing a livid one and after what seemed like forever Jaune let out a soft sigh.

"Jaune." Pyrrha whispered. And Jaune simply nodded. He then felt her fist slam into his face and he recoiled just a bit. He then felt another fist slam into his jaw and this time he stumbled back. He recovered a bit as he looked to see blood on his former partner's knuckles. Tears were now apparent in her eyes and he let out a groan. It had been a while since he felt this type of pain. "HOW?!" she then shrieked. He simply stared at her and she then continued. "HOW ARE YOU HERE?! WHY ARE YOU DRESSED LIKE THAT?! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD JAUNE!" He looked at her emotionally spent form and mentally kicked himself for what he was about to do.

"I was." Jaune replied and everyone was now listening to the two. "You can thank Ruby's team for that." she went wide eyed at this and looked over at RWBY. Ruby was now looking at him with an ungodly amount of shock and he simply nodded at her. "I didn't say you Ruby, I said your team." Ruby then looked at her team and they were all staring at him as if they just saw their greatest fears come to life.

"Explain." Pyrrha growled at him and Jaune looked at her with a stern look. He then looked over her shoulder and smirked a bit.

"Good that you made it Ozpin." He said and they all turned around to see that the headmaster was standing next to downright scared Goodwith who was holding her scroll. Jaune noticed that Ozpin was gripping his cane so tight, he thought he could see some cracks in it. The blonde then looked over to Ruby's team and they flinched as his glare intensified. "You want to tell them what happened or should I take charge this time?" He asked sarcastically. "Y'know what? Since you three have been doing such a good job at telling them your version, I'll tell them mine." He then looked at his old team and smiled a bit. Despite everything that he had done he still missed them. "It was the time Ozpin sent us on that recon mission." Pyrrha then looked at him with a confused look. "Yeah. The one we went on in the Forever Fall forest."

 _The eight students were now resting after a day's hike through the Forever Fall forest. Leading the two teams of RWBY and JNPR were none other than Ruby and Jaune who were helping setting up the camp for the night. The others went to find food and other supplies while the two leaders assigned themselves as the ones to build the shelter._

 _"_ _Yknow Jaune, if you just talk to them about it, they will stop acting this way." Ruby said as jaune sighed at his fellow leader's remark. It had been a month since things went somewhat bad for Jaune. After the Ursa incident, Cardin blabbed to Goodwitch about his transcripts in front of the entire class that was on the trip. He could feel the intense stares from everyone besides two people. Ruby honestly didn't care too much after what she just witnessed and even defended the blonde, saying that what he just did proved that he should be with them. unfortunately, her pleas fell on mute ears as Goodwitch used her semblance to carry Jaune all the way to the headmaster's office. Jaune honestly thought he would be kicked out by now, but to everyone's surprise Ozpin let him stay. He agreed on the same philosophy as Ruby and told Goodwitch that he proved that he was more qualified to be a huntsman than half the students at his school._

 _Unfortunately, the student body didn't agree with the headmaster and bullied him relentlessly. It ranged from name calling to ferocious beatings and Jaune took it all in stride. Despite his team waking up to see him with new bruises each day, he shrugged it off and claimed it would just blow over sooner or later. It took him a while until he finally got back to speaking terms with the rest of his team and even longer until they welcomed him._

 _The day they welcomed him back was when a few upperclassmen decided that Jaune's team was also a prime target for torment and started to openly be creepy with the champion, stealing Nora's pancakes, and yanking at Ren's hair. It was a shocking scene to the rest of the school and what shocked them even more was when the blonde knight beat one of the upperclassmen within an inch of his life. No one saw Jaune come from behind them with his sword ready and they all witnessed Jaune relentlessly swing at the unfortunate student that was putting his hands on Pyrrha. It took his entire team and RWBY to pry him away from the student and he was thrown into his dorm on lockdown. Glynda insisted he be expelled but Ozpin simply stated that he was protecting his team like a leader should do. She had no idea why Ozpin was protecting this boy and simply walked off. The rest of his team entered their room that night to see that he was crying and apologizing. Saying he was sorry he got them involved and his response was a hug from Nora, followed by the rest of the team. They believed if he would go that far for them, then he was a leader worth trusting._

 _Despite his team being back the way it was, he always felt the hate wherever he went. The hateful glares and whispers came from all directions and hi would just ignore them. he had his team now. That was all that mattered. He would sometimes see Ruby and try to talk to her, only for her team to separate the two. Claiming she shouldn't even be seen with him. It pained him to see her apologetic look every time this happened but he kept his mind on the positive because if he thought of the negative, another incident such as the one he made in the mess hall would occur. It wasn't until a few weeks after when he received a message from Ozpin claiming that his and Ruby's teams were to be sent on a reconnaissance mission in the forever fall to investigate a spike in grim activity. Despite Ruby's team's reluctance they accepted and his team did as well. The trek to the sight would take two days' hike at least and that's when the blonde just sighed at his fellow leader's suggestion._

 _"_ _Yea. Take advice from the one who finds it difficult to talk to people. I'm sure that will work in my favor." She rolled her eyes at his remark and finished setting up her team's shelter._

 _"_ _Y'know this is the first time I've been able to talk to you Jaune." She said as the blonde didn't look at her, instead focusing on his work at hand. "Jaune will you please actually talk to me. Like you said, I am socially awkward, you know how weird it feels when I say we should talk?" she got a snicker out of him that time and she smiled._

 _"_ _Ruby I get that your team hates me. I do. I don't know if things will ever change. All I can do is just go with the flow of things. If they forgive me like my team did, then great, if they keep acting like this…" he was about to continue until he heard some growling come from behind him, he turned around to see a grim he had never seen before standing over the boulder right above him. It took the form of a mountain lion of sorts and he just stared in terror at its opaque red eyes. The beast pounced at him and he readied his shield at the last moment._

 _Ruby saw this unravel before her as she armed Crescent Rose and charged in to take out the monster. The lion grim jumped out of the way of her slice and she collided into Jaune which made them tumble into the shrubbery. Jaune was trying to get his bearings together when he heard the growl return once more. He saw the grim charge at him and he closed his eyes and braced for the pain._

 _But nothing came. He looked up to see that Ruby took the hit for him and she collapsed in his arms. Three deep claw marks decorated her chest and he looked down at her unconscious form. His eyes watered as he heard shallow breaths from the rose and he gently set her down on the ground as he unsheathed his sword. He felt this feeling once before and that was when he hacked away at the upperclassmen that one time. He felt that same feeling clawing within his soul as he eyed the beast. He let out a war cry and with inhuman speed, he sliced the lion with one clean cut, causing the grim to split in half. He looked back to see the threat was dealt with and went to Ruby's side. He took her back to the campsite and was thankful that the others hadn't come back yet. He took out his EMT kit that he kept on him. Despite no one knowing or caring, he decided to take medical classes and emergency survival lessons from field medics and huntsmen that were stationed in Vale at the time._

 _He ripped open Ruby's shirt to see that the wounds weren't too deep to be lethal, but without proper care, could lead to much worse outcomes. He cleaned the blood off with his canteen water and began applying disinfectant onto the wounds. Yelps and small cries of pain could be heard from her as he rubbed the ointment over the flared areas. He then took out the thread and needle and let out a breath to gain his confidence. This was his friend at the moment._

 _"_ _Ruby, I have to stitch these wounds up. This is going to hurt a bit. Just keep focusing on my voice okay? I'm not going anywhere. He began stitching up her first wound as he told her happy stories of him and his sisters during his childhood. He told her to think of her dog or her home. Anything to keep her mind off the pain._

 _Fifteen minutes passed and Jaune finally cut and tied the last of her stitches together. He then placed some more emergency disinfectant on the wound before bandaging it up. He made sure Ruby was alright by checking her pulse. It was slightly weaker but from determining the beats per minute, he was sure she was going to be okay. He then laid her down on her sleeping bag and took the extra blanket to cover her up. After all of that was done he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and was clutching his frantic heart that was beating at exuberant speeds. He then realized that when the teams get back to see this they will not take this lightly and blame him. Possibly yang jumping to wrong conclusions. He sighed at this and grabbed Crocea Mors and sat beside the now resting Ruby. He smiled at himself as he couldn't believe that all of those classes and training paid off as he actually saved his friend. His first friend to be exact. He was bullied a lot during his childhood and he never really had any friends besides his sisters and now Ruby. And he saved her. Kind of like the heroes he read about when he was little._

 _His train of thought was broken when he felt a hand yank upward on his hair and he was now face to face with a furious Yang Xiao Long. Her red eyes were attempting to gape into his soul and he simply looked at her until she threw him at a nearby tree. He looked up to see that the two teams were back and were surrounding Ruby. Shaking her to see if she was alright._

 _"_ _Don't move- "he was silenced with a punch to his gut as he crumbled to the ground._

 _"_ _YOU DON'T GET TO TALK!" Yang yelled as she reeled her fist back for another punch._

 _"_ _Fuck this." Jaune muttered as he used that same speed he had when he took on the lion. He disappeared in front of the blonde brawler and before she could comprehend what happened she felt a agonizing pull from her hair. She looked over her shoulder to see Jaune looking at her with a furious expression as he held his sword against her hair._

 _"_ _IF YOU KEEP MOVING HER, THE STICHES WILL RUPTURE!" he shouted, causing everyone to look at him wide eyed as they saw him millimeters away from slicing off Yang's hair. His tactic worked as the only thing he could hear now was his heartbeat echoing into his eardrums. They all simply stared agape at the knight threatening Yang's hair and he stared at them all._

 _"_ _If you simply asked what happened instead of ATTACKING ME," Jaune emphasized the last part with another pull on Yang's hair. "I would have told you all that Ruby and I got ambushed by a grim. It was a new one and Ruby took a hit for me. I got rid of the grim and treated her wounds. She is resting right now from the stiches I made for her. AND YOU MOVING HER WILL ONLY HURT HER SO WILL YOU ALL STOP BLAMING ME?!" he let go of the brawler's hair and before she could do anything he pointed his sword at her neck. "She will be okay. Maybe feel a little lousy but she will live. Now go see her. I know when I'm not wanted." He spat and sheathed his sword. He then went to the other end of the camp and sat down, facing away from the group._

 _His partner stared at him with a worried expression. She saw Ruby's wounds and was impressed that the treatment was almost flawless, but she couldn't help but notice that her leader was becoming more and more troubled. First the mess hall, now this. No one was allowed to even TOUCH Yang's hair. It was a universal fact, yet they all just witnessed him violently pulling it and threatening to cut it, to contain the situation. Yes, he was attacked first, but Pyrrha was becoming concerned if this was just the beginning of his new behavior. She decided not to dwell on it and decided that sleep would be for the best. Her teammates agreed to this and they all began to fall asleep._

 _Jaune was sitting at his stump away from the group of sleeping teammates and "friends" as he looked down at his feet. He had no idea what came over him and he had no idea why. After Yang's unneeded freak out, he just snapped. When did he ever snap? It wasn't in his nature to snap at people, let alone threaten someone's treasured belonging such as Yang's hair to grasp the situation. He sighed, knowing he should apologize to her as soon as he can._

 _His head perked up though as he heard something from behind him. He cocked his head in confusion as he didn't know what it was but it sounded familiar. As if someone was loading… dust. He dove to the side to see Ice shards erupt from the ground. He readied his sword and turned to face something he never expected._

 _He saw in front of him Yang, Weiss and Blake with their weapons aimed at him._

 _"_ _Guys." He said nervously as he slowly readied his sword. "What are you doing?" his only response was from Weiss as her dust chamber spun rapidly._

 _"_ _Something we should have done a while ago." She used a glyph to propel herself forward and thrust at Jaune. He ducked at the last second, but felt a bullet graze his left cheek. He saw Blake aiming Gambol Shroud, training her sights on his head. He yelped at this and readied his shield as he felt Yangs fists slamming relentlessly on it. He held back the urge to cry in pain due to how much his arm was aching. Yang was doing a number on his shield arm and even heard the bones crack. He then jumped to the side and rolled out of the way of another flurry of bullets from Blake. He made it back to his camp to see his team and Ruby still sleeping. He tried to wake them up until he noticed a violet outline circling their auras. He shook Pyrrha, even smacked her a few times to wake her up but to no avail._

 _"_ _Sleep paralysis" he muttered under his breath and he looked back to see the three of them closing in on him. He looked down at his partner one more time and tears rolled down his face. He kissed her forehead and saw her smile a bit at this and took off deeper into the forever falls._

 _He was now running with nothing but fear as he frantically made his way through the forest. If he made it far enough and survived for a bit after a few days or so, he could make it back to Beacon and tell them what really happened here. He mockingly chuckled at this notion. 'like anyone would believe me.' He thought. his thoughts were cut shot though when he heard a gunshot go off from gambol shroud and felt the dust round pierce through his calf. He cried out as he landed face first into a mud pit. He struggled to get up and when he did he was faced with the three huntresses in training, all wearing neutral looks with a hint of malice as they looked down at his disheveled form. He was panting rapidly and was clutching his side as he struggled to keep his stance._

 _"_ _You were never huntsmen material." Weiss started and he closed his eyes. Really? This is why their doing this?! You were always a failure. We just didn't know it yet." She said and he flinched a bit at this._

 _"_ _I may be a liar on some accounts." Blake started and Jaune squeezed his eyes shut harder as he tried to tune her voice out. "But at least I'm not pathetic as you." His sword hand was now trembling at this._

 _"_ _I always knew you would hurt her." Yang then said and he looked up to see her cracking her knuckles. "It was only a matter of when. Honestly a grim attack? You honestly think we would believe that? We know you hate her." She said and Jaune's eyes sharpened._

 _That was it for him._

 _He didn't care what people said about him. He didn't care what people did to him. But just like the other universal laws in Beacon, just like Yang with her hair and Nora with her pancakes,_

 _You did NOT try to take away Jaune Arc's friends._

 _He charged at the three with a startling war cry and sliced at the blonde, cutting a full lock of hair. She was about to react by activating her semblance until Jaune slammed his hilt into her nose. He heard the bone and cartilage crack on impact and instinctively turned to see Weiss thrusting her sword at him. The result of this was him ducking under and jabbing the pointed end of his kite shield into Weiss's stomach. He saw her fall backwards and he was now looking at Blake who readied her twin katanas and rushed him. He braced for an impact to only see her vanish in front of him. He mentally kicked himself, not remembering that she could summon clones. He made a wild guess and made an upwards slash. He looked up to his surprise to see his hunch was right. Blake then tumbled to the ground and then he noticed that they were all down for the count. He had just beat them all in a fight for survival. 'Heh well what do you know.' He thought as he sheathed his shield and sword. He didn't know why, but he felt uneasy in the area he was in. as if the very essence of death was in the air. He noticed it coming from some fumes and reflective light that was being illuminated by the shattered moon over a small hill. He walked past the crumbled forms of his "friends" and headed over the hill. He gasped to see a pool of what looked like black tar. If tar rotated in numerous directions and somehow had a foreboding feeling to it. He then pulled out his scroll and took a few pictures of it. Maybe this is what Ozpin was looking for. It didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was him getting back to camp and possibly Vale._

 _*CRACK! *_

 _Jaune let out a scream of agony as he felt the joint in his right knee pop out of its socket and piercing out of his flesh. He looked down to see his fractured leg spurting blood and he let out another gag of pain._

 _*CRACK! *_

 _Another agonizing flare of pain raced through his body as he looked to see Yang standing over him with Ember Celica destroying both of his kneecaps. He was then grabbed by his hair and hoisted to his knees to see Weiss approaching him with her rapier. He tried to struggle but it proved fruitless as his legs erupted once more in pain._

 _He saw her give him an indignant smirk and she thrusted her blade into his stomach. He was gasping and gritting his teeth. Despite the new pain, he didn't want to give her or anyone the satisfaction of him in agony._

 _His thoughts were once more cut short as he felt the ribbon of gambol shroud wrap around his neck. It tightened as he struggled and he was now gasping for his life in more ways than one as the three were now all over him. Blake strangling him, Weiss stabbing him, and Yang keeping his head up so he could watch._

 _Jaune's mind was now in overdrive as he was thinking of anything he could to get out of this. Anything he could do to live. To break free of the ones killing him. So, that he could see the ones he called family again._

 _With a strangled, but ferocious yell he tried getting up despite his shattered joints and in another now primal roar, his body erupted in white light, blinding the three instantaneously. He was unwrapping the ribbon around his neck until he felt a kick straight to his stomach where his stab wound was. He saw that in blind instinct, Yang let out a kick to push him away._

 _She didn't know that her kick would cause him to fall off the ledge and into the tar-ish pit below him. He let out a scream of terror as he plunged into the murky substance below. Some bubbles emerged only for them to disappear, along with Jaune's life._

 _The three looked down to see where Jaune fell and the three let out sighs. Knowing that he was gone for good. The only problem now was how to convince them that Jaune was no longer with them. the three discussed what their story was and what happened. They thought that if he was a failure in life. He could pretend to be a hero in death. They then walked back from the pit with slight grins at what they had done._

 _#_

 _Absolute darkness._

 _That was all that Jaune saw as he thrashed around in the dark bile that he fell into head first. He struggled to breathe, clawing at his throat and letting out terrified gargles. He couldn't tell if he succumbed to death already or he was just suffering some more after he just went through. He felt his form curl up into a fetal position and he grinded his teeth. Why? What did he do wrong? Was getting his hands on some false transcripts that awful? That atrocious to deserve this? To be basically tortured and thrown to his death by the ones he once actually considered something resembling a family? Was this his penance for living?_

 _'_ _WAS MY EXISTANCE REALLY THAT ATROCIOUS?!' he mentally screamed and his aura flared once more. He could now see his body as it floated in the dark abyss. He winced at first at the slight burning he was feeling all over now. He then jerked back and forth in torment as he felt his body basically being ripped apart. He felt looked down to see his body slowly disintegrating. Particle by particle he felt not just his flesh, but his organs, muscles, bones, and blood all dissolve within in the black matter he was in. he couldn't even have the satisfaction of screaming anymore due to his lungs not existing. Just then he felt his eyes go along with everything else and was left to the nothingness._

 _A small ball of light appeared in the abyss and that small ball grew into a supernova within the pit and a roar could be heard through the darkness. The surface of the dark liquid shined a bright white and Jaune Arc erupted from the pit, clutching the tuff of dirt and lump of grass to pull him out of the pit. His clothes were mostly destroyed as he made his way fully out of the murky pit. He then clutched his stomach and let out another scream. He felt that exact same feeling of being ripped apart millimeter by millimeter, but to be relieved the next moment and saw that the atoms were reconstructing._

 _This cycle of destruction and construction continued and Jaune was now writhing and convulsing due to the never-ending torment he was now facing. He began to vomit and a black glob came out of his mouth and he then prayed. Prayed to whatever being out there that they would make this pain go away._

 _His eyes widened though as he heard the familiar roar of a grim behind him._

 _He turned to see a group of Beowolves surrounding him and before he could do anything, he saw that more of them… were coming from the pit._

 _'_ _That pit… makes grim?' he thought, forgetting the pain for a few moments before it returned tenfold. He hunched over a bit and was about to let out another cry until he heard something. A snort coming from the Beowolf._

 _This... thing was laughing at him._

 **(Insert "Blackwatch" song by Mandopony now)**

 _His fists tightened at his and his own disintegrating particles merged with his aura. The once pure white aura darkening into a dark smoke and he let out a growl at them. this caught the Beowolves attention as the smoke then erupted with his cry of anger. The smoke was now swirling around his form and he looked around to see that the creatures of grim were now starting to fear him. He grinned and charged forward. Crocea Mors materializing in his hands and he began to utterly destroy everything he saw._

 _He was slashing away at the grim that were now starting to run away until one got lucky and clawed his face. His eye and most of his right cheek ripping off his face. Only to be reconstructed in a matter of milliseconds. He looked at his swords reflection, witnessing what just happened and he touched his face. Oh, the pain was still there, but his fury was greater._

 _With every grim that fell he made a vow. A vow to make them all pay. A vow that not just them. but everyone who decides other's fates would fall victim to him. Their blood would be on his hands and he would show no remorse. He vowed that he would never let anyone else fall victim to the same type of betrayal he succumbed to by ridding the world of the disgraces that plagued humanity. He vowed to hunt them all down. No matter how long it took, he would make sure they all died by his hands._

 _He relinquished his sword and resorted to tearing the grim apart with his bare hands and he let out more primal growls with each grim collapsing in mangled forms. He then looked over to the pit of where they were coming out and growled, knowing that there was no stop he continued fighting. For his life? He didn't know or care anymore, he kept fighting until the sun emerged over the trees, decorating his body and battleground in a crimson shade, as if the sun was bathing him in blood. He then trudged forward as that now familiar pain came with the smoke and he looked out into the sunrise to see the orange hues decorate the night sky. He did it. He survived through the night and death may have taken him._

 _But he carried on._

 **(Song End)**

 **Well… that happened. Honestly this chapter was a trip to write. I know I'm dishing these chapters out like cheap burgers but I am honestly trying to put as much care as I can in each chapter. Only problem is that I couldn't show too much because I wanted it to be a good reveal. This chapter is by far the longest and I am happy to say it is chalk full of care and effort so I can pluck at all of your feels. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Drop a review by me and tell me what you thought. Be Fierce everyone.**

 **SparkeyDapperDab19 signing off.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'M Baaaack! I cranked out three entire chapters Friday and was in desperate need of a break to think of what to write next and what was a better way to take a break than to go to work?! …. Yea not fun. But! I am happy to say I am back with another chapter coming your way beautiful people! I hope you all enjoy this! I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

Chapter 10

Reformations and new alliances

Everyone looked at the blonde standing in front of them with a deafening silence surrounding them all. As he told his side of the story, his gaze grew more cold and calculated at the three that turned him into who he was now. He could hear the Ruby and Nora silently crying as his story came to a close. His arms remained folded and his head slightly tilted down. Everyone could now see that reliving those moments wasn't something he didn't want to do.

"I spent a month getting the hang of my new "gift" in the outskirts of Vale. It wasn't until I met Reyes that I began my two-month long prep for well, this." He said as he gestured to the destruction all around them. They simply stared at him in appalled shock. Pyrrha and Ruby had the worst reactions.

Ruby gripped her chest tightly as she felt the scars she got back then. She was told by her team the following morning that she got hurt and Jaune was killed in the attack. She screamed at them, trying to convince them that Jaune saved her and patched her wounds. They told her that she was just seeing that due to the shock and sudden blood loss. That was when she spiraled down into her depression. But now, hearing this from the one that truly saved her life that night. Only to find out his reward was a painful death, from none other than her own sister and team. This ignited something within Ruby and she was now glaring at her team, unknown that her eyes were somewhat glowing.

Pyrrha was lost in the amount of sorrow and shock as she heard her partner say what he truly went though. she was told the same story Ruby was told and so were her teammates. Claiming that he died of blood loss from a grim bite. A grim bite?! A grim bite was heaven compared to what she just heard come from him. As she thought about it more though, it did make sense. Pyrrha and her team had developed a sleep schedule and no matter how tired they were, they would always wake up at a fixed time. The sleep paralysis that Jaune told them about explained why all three of them woke up two hours later than their usual time. She then looked into his sapphire eyes and saw a tranquil fury aimed at the ones responsible.

"Why?" she whispered and Jaune looked at her. "Why do all of this? Why resort to this? The killing, the mutilation. WHY?!" tears were now prevalent and Jaune kept staring on. "WHY DIDN'T YOU COME BACK?! WHY DIDN'T YOU GO TO OZPIN OR ANYONE?! THEY COULD HAVE JUST FACED A TRIAL AND SPENT THEIR LIVES IN PRISON!" her fury was noticeable to everyone but they knew that her anger wasn't aimed only at Jaune, but at WBY and the idea of him becoming this. She was pounding at his chest and now crying some more as he simply took the hits. As the impacts were softening, he gently grabbed Pyrrha's wrists and set them away from him.

"I think you know what I'm about to say Ozpin, so I don't expect you to be surprised." He said and Ozpin gave him a knowing look. Jaune then looked at his old team and Ruby. "First of all, I didn't have proof of them doing it. The only proof I could give was my new semblance of sorts but I could see that if I went to the authorities I would be quarantined if I told them about my new transformation. Secondly, even if they did consider opening a case into this it wouldn't matter." All of them except Ozpin gave him a questioning glance and he let out a short grunt. "During missions, sometimes the leader or one of the co leaders can make rash decisions that come with severe consequences." He started and now Goodwitch knew what he was talking about. She went wide eyed as she knew what was coming next. "In those rare but jeopardizing situations, the rest of the team or a part of the team can go through with a something called the Usurpation Initiative. Where the team can use force to make the leader step down from power until the mission is done. And if the leader resists, well… they are given to use full authority over their fate." Each of them now knew what he was saying. That didn't mean they wanted to believe him. "In a nutshell, because of what happened to Ruby, and my actions of self-defense made it possible for them to get off scot-free even if the truth came out. Isn't that right Ozpin?" Jaune said and they all turned to the headmaster who had subtle emotions of frustration and rage boiling within him. He gripped his cane with both his hands and lowered his head.

"That is correct Mr. Arc." He said and gasps could be heard throughout the others. Despite their intentions, they loophole their way into legally killing a person and this was the result. They knew that Jaune didn't at first want to kill them. Despite his graphic actions, Ruby and his team saw the same Jaune they saw three months ago, and they knew he wouldn't kill.

Not unless it was a last resort. Not unless it was the very last option that would get him some sort of justice to the ones that did this to him.

"I will admit it was difficult at first. Taking lives and all of that, but as the days went by and the body count increased, I grew numb to it. Just like how I grew numb to..." his back arched and they all grew confused at this. His disgruntle cries of pain returned and Pyrrha was now at his side. Wanting to know what was wrong and how she could help him. He fell to his knees and was continuing to writhe in pain until the black smoke erupted from all over his body. It was now swirling around him again at such a ferocious intensity and this made them all fearful of what was about to happen next.

"Jaune! What's happen- "Pyrrha was cut short due to her being at a loss for words at what she was now seeing. She saw Jaune's eyes flare from his usual blue to a dark red and the smoke now calming down a bit. What made her truly speechless was when she saw his face slowly dissolving, his muscles and skull were now visible for a few seconds until the smoke passed by his face and healed it, only for another few seconds to pass and the cycle continued. Her hands went to her mouth as she was witnessing the true horror that was subjected to Jaune. That constant agony that he mentioned. That is what it looked like and it was something she never wanted to see again.

Jaune then held out one of his hands and his signature mask materialized. He gave one last look to them and set the mask in place. "Unlike most of you here, I know when I'm outmatched." He said as he simply stared at Ozpin. He knew he was stronger than before but going up against all of them would be suicide at its finest. "Just remember that this is just the beginning. I know you saw my files Ozpin, but that won't stop me. As I told you. I promised that I would see all of them burn." He then turned his head to the three that turned him into this monstrosity. "And an Arc never goes back on his word." He said as he slowly shifted into his smoke form and traveled through the wind, leaving the baffled and terrified students to process what they just heard.

Ozpins office, three hours after the breech:

WBY was now sitting in front of Ozpin and their teammates who all had livid expressions on their faces. Believing it was justified since they found out that the three of them were responsible for not only the former leader's current state, but also the biggest reason why he committed those atrocities. They glare from their teammates only intensified as Ozpin sat at his desk with a tranquil but angry expression.

"I should have you all expelled and blacklisted from the kingdoms." The headmaster said in a cold tone. Fear was creeping through WBY's bodies and they were struggling to retain eye contact with any of them. "Not only did you abuse and one of the few students that had the purest intentions that I have ever had at my school, but you dragged him into the darkness and tainted his ideologies and morphed him into the monster his is now." He then stood up, gripping his cane once more. Cracks could now be seen in the furnished wood that decorated the handle. "Every murder he committed, every student that was injured in the breech, every member of the white fang that was massacred, and every Atlasthenian soldier that was mutilated at the CCT is all because of you three who only saw a non-existent threat that night three months ago. All of that blood was spilled because of your arrogance and indignance on one student's true potential. If I could I would have the three of you hanged." He growled that last part that made everyone reel back, including his assistant. In all of her years at Beacon she had never seen this side of the headmaster. And it terrified her. "But I can't. I can't give you three the punishment you all deserve without the council stepping in. Mr. Arc was right about that. you acted within the rules of the initiative and used it to its full capacity, so expulsion and other punishments that severe are out of the question." The three relaxed for a fraction of a second until the fury from everyone aimed at them intensified ten-fold.

"However," the headmaster started, creating a sense of dread amongst the three of them. "You three will now be revoked of ever becoming huntresses. You will go through my school, you will graduate, but you will never be certified. You are also disbanded from team RWBY and are now registered as a benched support team. Ms. Rose has agreed to this and insisted she join NPR. I have complied to this request and this will be in effect as of tomorrow, you are also confined to this school as of this moment and are restricted from going anywhere else, including the Vytal festival and the tournament. It should be obvious that you three are disqualified from even setting foot in the colosseum, let alone fighting in the tournament. And finally, your parents have all been informed of your atrocities and they have all complied to these punishments as well as having their own punishments for each of you individually. They will all arrive in the next few days to discuss that and in the meantime, consider Beacon as your prison now." The three were all trying their hardest not to break down at this news and considering how intense they were trembling, they weren't trying hard enough. The headmaster then sat back down and rested his head on his hand. "Beacon security will escort you out. Now please, get out of my site." WBY was then escorted out by Goodwitch and a few Atlas soldiers, leaving Ruby and the others in front of the headmaster.

"I am truly sorry that this happened." Ozpin said in a somewhat exhausted tone. They all saw the regret and sorrow vividly etched on his face as he was now trying to keep eye contact with them. "Not only did I fail your friend, I failed you four as well. I shouldn't have sent you all on that mission three months ago. I knew the relationship between Mr. Arc and those three was strenuous and yet I went on with it anyway. I hope you can all forgive me eventually." This was a new side to Ozpin that no one had ever seen before and the four students in front of him were baffled at this. Ruby then stepped forward along with Pyrrha.

"You have nothing to apologize for headmaster." Ruby said and Pyrrha nodded her head. Ozpin was about to retort until Pyrrha spoke up.

"You didn't turn him into what he is now. You also didn't know what was out there. That is why you sent us. And besides, after word gets out about this, the three of them won't be able to show their faces anywhere." She said and Ozpin went quiet for a few minutes as concern was now on all of their faces.

"I am unhappy to inform you all that this must remain confidential." He said and they were all about to protest. How could they not? WBY was now facing some justice for what they have done but it wasn't enough. So why despite everything that happened, did this have to be kept between them all? "Due to high tensions now and the breech not helping our situation, if word were to get out on this matter, the people will riot. Atlas would occupy Vale in full and the White Fang would most likely siege this kingdom. Even if they found the three responsible, they would come after the council and the school along with everyone in it, looking for someone else to blame all of the death and destruction on." Ozpin let his words sink in as he saw Ruby and NPR think about what he had said. "I wish I could do more but as of now that is the most I can do." they nodded slowly at this and Ozpin took a sip of coffee.

On a more decent note, I would like to inform you three that you are now a full team. I do hope that you three do not mind if Ms. Rose kept her leading position." The three of them smiled at the rose and welcomed her into their team. They knew Jaune was her first friend and they trusted her in the field as well as in the classroom. Ozpin then nodded at the four of them and handed them a thick file. "Very well. From this moment on you will now RPNR (Repenters) lead by Ms. Rose. And your first mission as a full team is to try to bring back Mr. Arc."

With Jaune:

Jaune was now starring down at the destruction beneath him as he stood perched on a high rooftop overlooking the city of Vale. He was not happy with how some of the events turned out. He never intended to let them know he was alive or what happened to him. He hated the looks he received though from his team and Ruby. They didn't deserve to see him like this. They deserved so much better. His fist tightened though in anger due to the fact that he wasn't able to finish off Weiss when he could, he had to make a show out of it and the result was his semblance disappearing for a bit due to that syringe. he made a mental note to watch out for more of those as he then smiled a bit at the scene below him. Despite those few surprises, he did let them know the truth and he could only guess what happened to the ones that turned him into this. Not only that but his plan did go without a hitch.

He grinned at the result of his handiwork and he was about to head back to his safe house until he heard a loud gunshot and felt a bullet rip through the back of his skull and out his left eyeball. He simply stood there for a few moments and turned his head to see where the bullet came from. His mask fell off once more and his eye was now loosely dangling by a strand of nerves before it regenerated back into his skull. He looked and saw his assailant slowly make their way up to him and he gave them a look that basically said 'really?'

"So, it is true." He heard a woman voice say as the silhouette came closer to him. He simply folded his arms while keeping his questioned look. The one who shot at him then emerged from the shadows to reveal a woman. She was dressed in some skin tight violet combat outfit and was armed with a massive sniper rifle. He mentally sighed as he noticed she had a spider theme going for her. What did somewhat surprise him though was the pale blue color of her skin. Despite seeing a lot in his life so far, this was a first for Jaune. He saw her smirk a bit and shouldered her rifle. "You cannot be killed." She then said inches away from him. He was about to say something until she cut him off. "I will cut to the chase mon amie," she said and he tilted his head. "I am in need of your services." His look of questioning morphed into a glare.

"And why would I do that?" He asked and she handed him a file. He opened it to see plans and schematics for the Amity colosseum, intercepted messages to White Fang factions, and the one thing that he truly was interested in. Was a photo of a woman that had raven hair and amber eyes that looked as if they were burning with an intense fire. His gripped tightened a bit as he noticed that the file had some info on his old team and Ruby as well. The blue woman in front of him smirked at his reaction and shifted her weight on to her right leg, making a pose that would tantalize any man besides him.

"Because it seems we have a common enemy." She said and he looked down at the files for a few more moments until he looked at the woman in front of her and nodded with a look that was a mix of determination and skepticism. "Good. Then I believe introductions are in order. You may call me Widowmaker. And you?" she asked and Jaune looked at the ground to see his mask laying there. Instead of it turning to dust and flying back up to his face he picked it up and placed it back on. The deep scratch in the middle of the mask now noticeable to anyone. His red eyes only becoming tiny slits of crimson in the dark eye sockets. He simply said one word and followed her.

"Reaper."

 **Arc 1 is done! I am so happy you are all enjoying this story! That's right beautiful people we are getting into the good stuff. If it isn't obvious enough, Arc 2 will take place in season three. I wonder how this will play out? Only one way to find out! Leave a comment or a review and as always, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	11. Chapter 11

**BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! TIS I SPARKEYDAPPERDAB19! And guess what… ARC 2 IS HERE! That's right everyone things are just heating up and they're only going to get hotter. But first I would like to say something. I have received some constructive criticism. I will not lie there are faults in this story that I had failed to oversee. BUT! That only strengthens my determination to make this fanfic even better. Despite the challenges ahead I will press on and now I am not alone. SunwukongMogar has joined me as my beta in this journey so that you will all be able to enjoy this story even more. Before we start I would lastly like to say I do not own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **ENJOY!**

Chapter 11

A matter of perspective and a foreboding discovery

"So, let me understand this." A livid Salem said as she bore into Cinder's eyes, almost looking into her soul. "You barley were able to have the White Fang ally with us, you let our plans slip into the hands of someone we barely have any information on, Roman Torchwick is now a blabbering mess of a man locked up in an Atlasthenian brig, and now one of our trump cards has deserted us?" Cinder could feel the rage slowly burning within Salem and shuddered at this. Cinder had only seen her mad like this once before and the unlucky individual who caused to be in this similar state was torn apart by countless grim.

"Mistress let me explain." Cinder started with anxiety embedded within her voice. "In a way, the plan to breech Vale did succeed. Destruction was caused, lives were lost, and we still have out cover. And even if Roman was captured, his assistant is still with us." She said with caution as Salem retained her glare.

"Tell me Cinder," Salem said in a rhetoric tone. "Despite what you said, who was the one that executed that plan?" Cinder looked down to her feet and Salem grew annoyed at this. "Let me answer for you, some person that decided to go on a killing spree in Vale. Yes, he did accomplish our intended plans, but he is an unknown variable. Not only is he capable of hijacking our plans, but apparently, you can't find anything on him. Not a single piece of info except that he somehow knows our plans." Cinder nodded at this and Salem turned away from the girl.

"Consider this your secondary mission." Salem then said as she looked out the window, onto the desolate scenery that was littered with grim pools. "attempt to make him an ally. If you can't make him join us, get rid of him. That little gift you got from Beacon plus the powers of the Fall Maiden would surely be enough for you to take him down." She slightly turned her head to cinder and her eyes glowed with a vibrant red. Cinder quickly nodded and left the room. she heard the door to her chambers shut and Salem looked down into the pits that were spawning with somewhat of a grimace.

"Just what is your angle?" she asked to no one as she then headed back to work on the task at hand. After all, an invasion wouldn't plan itself.

With Yang:

"UNBELIEVABLE!" Taiyang roared as he was now face to face with his blonde daughter. Of all the things that he had to come home to from a crappy day at work. He didn't expect a message from Ozpin saying to contact him immediately. All while hearing that his daughter was one of the people that killed a student. He couldn't comprehend it at first. He laughed when Ozpin told him the news and told him not to joke like that. when he realized that it wasn't a joke, he nearly shattered. How? How was his daughter capable of doing this? throughout her childhood he noticed she was short tempered and would get in fights but he basically hammered it into her skull to never hurt or bully anyone. So why did she do it?

"Dad! Let me explain!" Taiyang stopped pacing in the middle of his daughter's dorm room and glared at Yang.

"Please! Enlighten me why I got a call saying that you attempted to murder a student?! Who is now a murderous psychopath!" He said and Yang was now a little fearful of her father. She had never seen him this mad before.

"It started when we found out he forged his way into Beacon." She started and her father became even more angry.

"That's your reason?!" he exclaimed. "You practically killed another student who happened to be Ruby's best friend, causing your sister to go into ANOTHER depression, and leave said victim's team in shambles because he was a fraud?!" she could now feel the aura radiating off her father and she was now downright terrified of what he was planning on doing.

"Tai." The two of them turned to see Qrow Branwen leaning against the doorframe and taking a swig from his flask. "Take a breather. Just go outside for a bit and calm down. We both know you're going to do something you will regret if you keep acting like this." Yang was now a little confused due to the way her uncle was talking. As if he was reading off a script. She then looked up to her father and he stood there in deep thought for a few moments before he let out a sigh.

"This talk isn't over." He said as he headed out into the hallway. Qrow giving him a reassuring wink and his Taiyang nodded at this. The door gently shut behind him. Yang was now staring at the floor with a hurt expression.

"I thought you were away on another one of your missions." She said and he simply stood at the edge of the room, still holding his flask.

"I was. Until I get a message from Ozpin saying that you were involved in killing a student. I am family after all and we know how your dad can be when he's mad." He said and then sat down on the bed cross from her. "Not to mention that said victim is now this "Reaper" and is the reason the way things are now." He nudged his head to the window, showing the Atlasthenian warships occupying the skies of Vale and the destruction all over the city. "Why did you do it Yang?" he asked in a tone that mixed with sympathy and suspicion. "What made you think that what you did was a good call?" he looked at his niece and she still hadn't looked at him in the eye.

"It started when we found out that he forged his way into Beacon." She said and Qrow nodded and gesturing for her to go on. "I won't lie, we did bully him relentlessly. All of us did. But he didn't fight back. he just took the hits." She noticed that Qrow looked as if he was in deep thought, but continued on. "He finally took it out on a upperclassmen who was targeting his partner at the time and I haven't seen anyone act that way. The way he attacked him, it wasn't right. I mean if I saw someone doing that to Ruby, I would attack them too, but we all saw the look on his face. He wanted to kill that guy." She said and Qrow snapped out of his train of thought.

"Okay, so why not tell Ozpin? He would at least have him mentally checked on to see if he was beginning to snap." He then saw Yang shake her head.

"It wasn't then when we decided to do what we did. It was after what happened when we found him with Ruby during the mission." She replied and Qrow gained an intrigued look. "I will admit," she let out a sigh and hunched over a bit. "I overreacted when I saw him next to Ruby who was bandaged up. I was worried he went off on her." Qrow then cocked an eyebrow and looked at her questioningly.

"So you all agreed to kill him because he yanked your hair?" He asked disbelievingly. He was told about all the details from Ozpin and knew about Ruby being injured and the boy using Yang's hair as a means to stop her from rampaging on him. He had to give the kid some credit for doing that. that took balls to do.

"No." Yang muttered as she lowered her head. "He wasn't threatening to cut off my hair. He was using it as cover." She said and Qrow grew confused at this.

"Cover? Using it to cover what?" His question was answered when she lifted her hair and exposed her neck, for him to see a long scar go down to the top of her collarbone.

"He was ready to cut my head off Uncle Qrow." She said and tears began to emerge from her eyes. Qrow's eyes widened as he saw the long scar down decorating her flesh and mentally kicked himself. Of course, she would go and try to take the kid out. Qrow knew Yang wasn't a killer, but he knew that she would kill if she had to. "The worst part was that I don't think he knew he was doing that. The way he told us what he saw when we found out he was the murderer, it was as if he never knew he did this." Her eyes grew red as she looked at her uncle. "You want to know why I did it? Why we decided to do what we did? Because I was scared. We all were." She finished and her uncle looked at her once more and sighed.

"How long was he bullied for? How often?" he asked. She looked down to think about it for a few moments.

"For a few months, but every day we would see at least once see him get beat up. Sometimes by me." She then looked away in slight shame. Qrow walked up to her and unclasped the cap to his flask and began pouring it on her niece's hair.

"WHAT THE HELL QROW!" she screamed at him and he kept pouring the liquor on her head despite her aura igniting.

"Imagine the booze as non-stop pain, fear, and loneliness. You want it to stop but it keeps coming. As it keeps coming you begin to become more and more angry. Angry at the ones who are hurting you. Angry at yourself for getting in this situation. So angry that you don't realize what you're doing anymore until you eventually and permanently snap." He said and Yang widened her eyes at his explanation. She knew exactly what he was talking about now. "You and your team making him take a dip in a grim-pool was his last straw. That last push he needed to go off the deep end. I'm not saying that I agree with his… methods." Yang shuddered as she remembered all the corpses that lied within his wake. "But I understand that we all have a limit of shit we can take and he exceeded his, turning him into… whatever he is now." He then capped his flask and turned to the door. "I will tell Ozpin about this new piece of info. Because if what you say is correct, then he just sent your sister and her friends to find a complete psychopath." And with that he shut the door behind him, seeing his former teammate with a shocked and concerned look.

"I'm guessing you heard all of that." Qrow said as he reached for his flask once more to realize that it was empty. "Anyways I need to get to Ozzy about this. Oh, and Tai," he then put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Don't go overboard. Yea shit really did hit the fan but don't go disowning her. Let me tell you, you will regret it later." And with that Qrow headed to the headmaster's office.

With Blake:

"So that is why you did what you did?" Ghira Belladonna said as he eyed his daughter that he hadn't seen in over a year sitting in front of him in an empty classroom Ozpin had let them use for this conversation. She had just explained her teams side of the full story and the two parents grew shocked at the events that had transpired for their daughter, Blake had told them about everything that she had to go through the past week and she could see the looks of disgust on their faces when she told them about the murders. After her explanation Ghira became silent as he processed what his daughter had told them. His wife was next to him with a somewhat appauled look. Ghira simply sighed. "I don't fully disagree with what you did then."

"GHIRA!" Kali nearly shrieked and he put his hand up, allowing him to finish.

"There is never just one perspective Kali." He said and he looked at his daughter who was now looking at him with confusion. "If what you said is true about the boy…. And what he did to your partner, then I understand. You were afraid. You all were. Fear is a very powerful emotion Blake." He then glared at her and she shrank in her seat a bit. "But I cannot approve of how you all treated him. Yes his methods of coming to Beacon were frowned upon, but he didn't deserve that much harsh treatment." He folded his arms and sat across his daughter while Kali was sitting next to him.

"Did you know Jaune's father is a close friend of mine?" he then said and Blake now went wide eyed at Ghira. "He saved my life when one of the White Fang protests became violent. I asked him why he saved me? I was a faunus, why did he have to gain from saving me? He simply smiled at me as he was treating my wounds and told me because it was the right thing. Ever since then he had not only been my trusted human ambassador, but one of my closest friends. One day he invited me to his home in Mistral and while he was walking me to his home he told me he needed to step down as ambassador and I asked him why. He then gestured for me to keep following him. We arrived at his home to see a small blonde boy greet us with the biggest smile I had ever seen." He chuckled as he thought back on those good memories. "As the day carried on, the boy told me he wanted to be a huntsman just like his father before he became ambassador. All he wanted to do was protect people. Keep the ones he loved safe." He looked up to see Blake, baffled with what he had told her.

"Three months ago, I received a video call from him." He started up again, I found it out of the ordinary considering he would either send a voicemail or talk to me face to face. When I answered, my friend who was so loyal to me, my friend who was the most mentally and emotionally strong person I have ever met was breaking down. He had received news that the same boy who I met all those years ago, that could brighten even the darkest of days, was killed on a mission while attending Beacon. He told me it was a grim accident but considering this new side of the story, that isn't the case." He was about to go on until his wife interjected.

"When we received that news, we went over to Mistral immediately to see him and his family. Blake, they were shattered at this news. You and your team unknowingly caused so much harm to more than just Jaune. We did our best to help them, just like they helped us when we found out you ran away. But they were all broken, I had not seen that much despair in one room in a long time. That is why your father and I have given your punishment an immense amount of thought." Blake became worried at this and looked back to her father.

"Blake what makes me mad is the fact that you would go out of your way to hurt someone who's only intention was to protect. That you and the rest of the school slowly tainted his heart with hate. Does that remind you of a certain organization that we all used to be a part of?" Kali looked at her husband with a sympathetic look. "And the result is that monster out there doing Oum knows what, is that same boy I met back then. I saw the pictures of what he did. The massacre in the warehouse, the huntsmen team that was killed in the forest, even a picture of that one faunus that had his ears skinned off." He then made eye contact with his daughter. "I won't disown you because of what you and your team did. But I will not tolerate your actions prior to it. You turned your back on everything you, your mother and I stand for. We came to the agreement that when your time at Beacon is over, you won't come back to Menagerie. Instead you will travel around Remnant helping ANYONE that needs it. Without your bow." Blake stood up in shock, having a hard time comprehending what that truly meant. She knew that would basically mean suicide if she stepped foot in Atlas. She was about to protest to this until Ghira stood up, towering over her.

"It is time you knew how he felt, facing criticism wherever you go. Unable to lose the label that is forced upon you and no longer hiding yourself. And considering your track record in terrorist and criminal activity I think this is very reasonable in regards to a punishment." Blake then looked to her mother for any support but she was in full agreement with her husband.

"Blake," Kali started with concern in her voice. "It was either this or prison in Atlas. Ozpin found your records of your activity in the White Fang. We had to pull a lot of strings for this agreement between Ozpin and the council." She reasoned and Blake stood there. She was baffled at this. she either had to travel the world unable to hide her trait and face the criticism head on or face prison. She simply sat back down, looking at her feet.

"Until you make your way through all four kingdoms, you are not allowed to take a single step into Menagerie. Considering what has happened and the role you played in this nightmare, we think this is reasonable." Ghira said and stood up. Gesturing to his wife that it was time to leave. As the two parents were at the threshold of the doorway they looked at their daughter and then at eachother. Kali gave him an assuring smile. Letting him know they were doing the right thing. They then headed out of the empty classroom together. Leaving their daughter to reflect on their words.

Blake simply sat there, processing what her father said and her ears flattened a bit. It was a daunting task and after she received the news of not being certified as a huntress her first thought was returning home. That was now out of the equation and anxiety started to form. Despite being this punishment being a bit lax than expected, it was a daunting task.

She just hoped that the others would get off a little easier like she did.

With Weiss:

Weiss was currently getting examined for the third time in the past twenty-four hours for any irregularities in her aura or body. Considering that she was nearly suffocated by Jaune's aura, she didn't mind too much. It was good to make sure there weren't any problems lingering in her system. She was now getting dressed back into her casual attire when she heard the door open behind her. She turned around and saw that her father was standing before her. This was unexpected in a sense that she didn't know that he would actually come to talk to her. She thought he would send her a letter containing legal documents that certified her disownment.

"Father." She said in a neutral tone laced with a hint of anxiety. He simply starred at her with an almost identical neutral expression.

"Before we start, let me give you a little insight on my career as leader in the Schnee Dust Company." Jacques said while Weiss resisted to roll her eyes. of course, he would make this about him. "I have had a successful career so far in running this company and upholding this family's name, but those successes didn't come without struggle. See Weiss, before the White Fang became the textbook definition of savages they would find ways to loophole civil trials and file lawsuits against our name. the company suffered severe lawsuits of mediocre rules of pay and what not. do you know why Weiss?" he asked and before she could answer Jacques interrupted.

"Because they had a human informant with them." Weiss was surprised at this. she had never heard of a human being involved in the White Fang. "An ambassador of sorts and he was the most annoying thorn in my side for a very long time. He would turn my human workers against me and successfully boycott our dust stores by showing the people they didn't need dust to help protect themselves." His voice became stressed as he went on about his adversary. "Because of this one man, our business, our family name, was falling apart. It wasn't until a few years ago, when the White Fang started attacking us when he left that organization. Despite that he still found ways to turn faunus and humans against us and we had been dealing with his resistance for a very long time." He then turned to the window that showed the Beacon courtyard that was being occupied by both human and faunus students and he scowled.

"But then I heard from some of my sources that his only son was killed three months ago." Weiss's eyes widened at this. she prayed that he wasn't talking about who she thought he was talking about. "So, I did what I always have done in these situations." He turned and smirked at her. "I ceased an opportunity. In his absence while he was mourning, I issued work laws that have been in effect for some time now, doubling hours and decreasing pay. Even putting the children to work. And without his resistance, the company's revenue has skyrocketed. Production has doubled and no one has had the courage to object to it, they all know that they would fall before me if they tried." Weiss couldn't believe what her father was saying. This couldn't be happening as she stared at her smirking father.

"Then I receive a message from Beacon of all places and am informed that my daughter, the heiress of the company, was one of the three responsible for murdering that man's son. Alexander Arc's only son." Weiss was now speechless. She knew now what her father was implying. "Of course, I was furious at this. Not only did I think that you murdering another person was morally degrading and downright barbaric, but it would crumble all the progress I have accomplished for the past three months. That is until I discovered that the truth would never get out to the public. See if it did, Alexander and his supporters would attack Vale, blaming them for his son's demise. Despite Alexander's resilience on taking me down, his family was his only weakness. The only reason I didn't target them was I knew he would burn me and the company to the ground, literally. So, when I realized that you were a main reason why not only the Vale council, but Ozpin and my rival are backed up into a political corner, moments away from tearing each other apart. That you and your team are the reason that made the family more successful then we have ever been before, I simply had to come and give my utmost thanks." He said with a sickening grin. Weiss was beyond disgusted of the views that this thing in front of her had. She couldn't believe that just because of that night, she unknowingly made countless lives in Atlas and the other kingdoms that the SDC occupied much worse.

"But of course, I have come here for other reasons, he continued and she glared at him. "I am here to inform you that as soon as your time here at Beacon is over, that you will be placed on house arrest. You will be then trained to fully take on the role of heiress of the SDC and you will be restricted from your scroll or any outlet of media. The public must never know of your involvement. Your scroll will be monitored in case you plan on telling anyone else and when you return home, you will be escorted everywhere you go. Be grateful I am letting you stay here. Honestly, I think Ozpins restrictions are punishment enough, but I also see an opportunity for you to change your perspective on these barbarians. A perspective akin to mine." With that he then turned to exit the room and he looked back one more time. Seeing his daughters appalled expression. He chuckled a bit and left the room. leaving Weiss to think on what she has done. How Jaune Arc wasn't the only monster she help create.

Meanwhile, Forever Fall forest:

The four Beacon students that made the team RPNR looked onto the grizzly scene. Not even a day after forming their team did they get a lead from Ozpin, the headmaster informed them that there was a concentration in a section of the Forever Fall forest. When they asked why there he told them that was where a suspected White Fang outpost was in that area. When the two teams arrived at the site they had to resist the urge to Vomit. It was another massacre. And they were pretty sure that they knew who was responsible.

The gaping gunshots in the victims were proof enough.

The four cleared the area of grim that were feasting on the corpses and began to investigate. They could tell that everyone who died here was experiencing their worst fears due to the horrified expressions expressed on their now cold faces.

Pyrrha's heart sank when she saw the remnants of black smoke around some of the corpses. She now was certain that Jaune was responsible for this. ever since she saw his face. The one that horrified her even now, she was more quiet with her team whenever he came up and they were now concerned for her wellbeing. The only solution they could come up with though was bringing Jaune back and trying to help him in any way possible. They knew it was a long shot, maybe impossible, but now they know that their friend was alive and they would do anything to get him back.

"I found something." They all turned to see Ren perched on a massive boulder overlooking the outpost. The three girls ran up to him and he held out in front of them a bullet casing. They all became confused at this.

"It's a bullet casing." Ruby said in an obvious tone and Ren nodded his head.

"Ruby I want you to aim at the corpses. Aim at their heads." Ren said and despite Ruby's confusion, she aimed her sights at a few of the deceased White Fang. It wasn't until five seconds later that Ruby went wide eyed. She looked at the green clad ninja and he nodded his head once more. "It seems he had some help this time. The question is who."

 **AND THAT'S A WRAP ON THIS CHAPTER! Thank you each and every one of you who have been supporting this story! Especially my new beta that has taken the time and effort out of their life to help me on this. be sure to leave a review and as always beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	12. Chapter 12

**ITS THAT TIME AGAIN! Hello everyone tis I with another chapter for you all. Before we dive headfirst into this gore fest let me say that I do not own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **ENJOY!**

Chapter 12

Strengths and weaknesses

The Forever Fall brushed in response to the sly wind tickling the tree branches as two figures made their way deeper into the forest. One was wearing a tight latex combat garb designed to help her traverse over and under the toughest obstacles and armed with a sniper rifle that she was now cradling in her arms. The other was a man shrouded in black with a hood and mask covering his identity. Despite the silence that surrounded the two, the air was thick with malevolence and grim were beginning to notice. It wasn't a problem to the two though since they would mow anything down that stood in their way.

"I will admit I was impressed in the way you took those animals out." She said breaking the silence as they walked through the crimson grass. "I had no idea ripping the bottom jaw completely off can lead to that much suffering." She smirked as she eyed her but kept walking straight.

"That a problem?" He asked coldly and the sniper retained her smirk.

"No. In fact I find it quite creative." She said and her response was a grumble as they carried on.

He then glanced at her with curiosity and began to wonder how did she get the way she was. Here in front of him was a woman who had the same disregard for human or faunus life. A woman with a murderous intent that he had met only the night before and was now wandering with in the Forever Fall, trying to find any leads on White Fang officials.

They both knew that if they found one of them, they would then have a lead on the woman in Widowmaker's file only known to them as Cinder Fall. From what Widowmaker had told him, she was one of the special few in a group of people that were essential for destroying Vale in the future. Despite Reapers lack of care for any of the kingdoms, his blackened heart irked when he thought about the few that didn't deserve what was to come. Because of this he decided that teaming up with an asset that had a fair amount of information on the matter was appropriate.

From what they heard from the now corpses in the previous camp, there was a larger outpost that had what they were looking for just a few miles north of them. As the two made their way further, Reaper could feel a presence that prickled his back. It was an uneasy sense of dread and with each step he took, he could feel it multiply. His head grew dizzy a bit and before he could recover he felt a surge of that uneasy feeling travel through him.

He stopped in his tracks. Widowmaker looked at him somewhat confused and noticed that the smoke that formed around him start to flare a bit. He then shuddered and turned his head to face the same direction of the outpost they just destroyed. She then saw his smoke dissipate and return back to normal, but as he passed her, she could feel a new-found urgency in his steps.

"C'mon." he said as he quickly passed her. "We should be arriving anytime soon." She could hear the uneasiness in his voice and she grew curious at what seemed to make him on edge. She decided not to dwell on it and followed suit to the larger outpost out in the distance. The two arrived at the entrance of what seemed to be a small stronghold more than an outpost and noticed that the gate was ripped open. It was apparent that someone or something had gotten there before them and judging from the claw marks, they could easily say that the grim were responsible.

"Ladies first." Reaper smugly gestured and Widowmaker knew that he was smirking beneath that mask. She rolled her eyes and made her way into the base. She used her rifle to scope out the lookout points, only to find bits and pieces of white fang grunts perched among them all.

"Looks like the grim attacked not too long ago." She told her new partner while he was inspecting the other remains of the faunus extremists. She then heard movement coming from what appeared to be one of the information rooms or area of communications. She pressed a button on the side of her goggles and activated her infrared vision. To see that in one of the corners was the outline of a person cowering. She deactivated her goggles and got Reapers attention when he saw her walking to the communication room.

"Find something?" he asked as he caught up with her via his smoke. She nodded and pointed to the area where she found a survivor. He nodded and when they were in front of the entrance he put his hand in front of Widowmaker and she gave him a questioning glance. "Leave the talking to me." He said as he dematerialized and entered the room through the crack under the door. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes due to his little smoke stunt for the fact that it actually caused the Faunus in the room to scream.

"Considering the fact that I haven't seen a single one of you animals carrying a chainsaw that big with you, I take it you are a higher up." She heard him say with intense malice. WIdowmaker leaned against the door, listening in on his conversation. "Now you're going to tell me what I want to know, every time you stutter," she then heard the chainsaw revving and the man despite his deep voice give a shriek. "I take a limb off. Now what happened here?"

"Grim!" she could hear chocked sobbing within his voice, he was definitely putting the fear of Oum into this person. "We heard that you were coming and the camp went into a chaos. Because of the panic, the grim showed up in droves and took us out." This was interesting to say the least since she hadn't heard of anything like this happening before. She never heard of one man causing so much fear grim would come. She was slightly impressed by this.

"Good." Reaper said and continued on. "Now where can we find Cinder Fall?" he asked and she heard the man stutter a bit.

That didn't end well for him.

His stuttering was then replaced with a blood curdling scream as the chainsaw roared to life. The screams continued and she internally flinched when she heard the chainsaw go through the person's bone. "Wrong answer." Reaper then said as his screams turned into choked sobs once more. "Let me be a little specific. Raven hair. Amber eyes. Red dress. Any of this ring a bell." Widow maker could tell he was emphasizing his point by revving the chainsaw.

"I DON'T KNOW!" he shouted with more anger this time and he continued to go on. "THE ONLY ONE WHO TALKS TO HER IS ADAM!" his shouting was quickly replaced by a stifled gasp.

"Adam who?" He asked with a softer tone but still retaining venom.

"ADAM TAURUS! HE'S OUR LEADER IN THE VALE BRANCH! OUM PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" Widowmaker heard him say and she sighed. One thing she learned from him in only one day of working with this man was that he didn't leave survivors. His screams filled the air and she heard a cringe worthy slicing noise. The sound of crunching bone and the tearing of flesh soon followed. After a few moments, the door opened and Reaper stepped out, his black cloak decorated in blood and some other internal organ. She looked inside and discovered that it was what she assumed to be a bit of his brain due to the chainsaw wedged in the man's head. She simply turned around and followed Reaper.

"That was the last outpost in the Forever fall." She said and Reaper simply nodded his head. "So, I take it our next target is this Adam Taurus." Another nod. "Do you know where he could be?" He then looked to her and shook his head.

"No, but I know someone who does." She cocked an eyebrow at this and shouldered her rifle.

"Can they be trusted." She was answered with him chuckling.

"Not in the slightest. But she has helped me in the past. How do you think I found out about these hideouts in the first place." She found his claim reasonable. They began to walk out of the stronghold and she noticed him becoming uneasy again. She decided to go on about this mystery person to get his mind off whatever was making him on edge.

"Well then how do we get her to help us?" she then asked, causing him to snap out of his subtle paranoia for a few moments.

"Simple. We give her something she wants. And I intend to give her what she wants if it means we get a lead."

"And what she wants is?"

"Exactly what we want. More information." His smoke flared once more and he darted his head to the path in front of them. She noticed him focusing on something not too far in front of them. Widowmaker then aimed her rifle to get a closer look on whatever was coming their way. She was surprised to see four teenagers simply walking toward their direction. She was confused at this but she shrugged it off, it was unfortunate for them to be there at the wrong place at the wrong time, but she no survivors or witnesses was essential to their plans. She was millimeters away from pulling the trigger until she felt the barrel of a gun pointed at her head.

"If you don't want your head decorating the trees, lower your rifle." She heard Reaper growl. She could feel the anger radiating off him and she complied at his command. Before she knew it, he grabbed her wrist and she felt herself being pulled to her right into the brush. When Reaper let go of her she looked at him and he gestured for her to stay low and the two looked to see the four teenagers make their way to the compound.

"Do you think we'll find him here?" she could hear the eccentric ginger with the hammer say and the green clad boy walked up to her side.

"Nora, considering that it looks abandoned, I doubt it." She then saw the one now known as Nora pout and the redhead dressed in bronze then intervened.

"Still we need to make sure." She said as she began opening the front gate. Before she fully opened it though she perked up. To the other's confusion she started looking around her until her eyes landed upon the two's position. Widow maker saw her partner shrink a bit, trying his best to hide from this person.

"Something wrong Pyrrha?" the smaller teen armed with something that looked like a sniper rifle asked and Pyrrha shrugged it off.

"Sorry Ruby. I was just getting a feeling. That's all." She said and they opened the front gate.

Widowmaker could barely see their looks of shock and horror as they looked upon the white Fang outpost until she felt Reaper's arm wrap around her and she was pulled at an accelerated speed deeper into the forest. Minutes later, he stopped and dropped her. She saw him looking in the direction they just came from and she got up from the ground and looked at him with an irritated look.

"Care to explain your little stunt?" she growled and he looked at her with an aggressive ambiance surrounding her.

"Those four are off limits" he simply said and she scoffed at this.

"You truly can't be afraid of a few kids, now can you?" she asked with a smirk and he turned to her. The red in his eye sockets narrowed at her, causing a slight shiver to run down her back.

"It's not them I'm afraid of, it's her aura." He growled and she grew confused. Was he talking about that one girl who was looking in their direction? She wasn't able to ask due to him walking on into the forest. She sighed and soon followed.

 **Well that just happened. I am happy you are all enjoying this fanfic and more is to come. My next deadline for chapters will be the 29** **th** **but I will take a little more time to flesh out the chapters. I'd like to give special thanks to SunwukongMogar for helping me edit and carry on with this story. I would also like to say that I appreciate all of your input and opinions in the comments. It sheds a new perspective on the story and helps me try to make this story better with every chapter. Thank you for all of your support, leave a comment or review and as always beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	13. Chapter 13

**HELLO ONCE AGAIN! HERE WE ARE! ON CHAPTER UNLUCKY 13. It was an unlucky chapter too. By far the most difficult to write. Ill get into that at the end of this chapter. Anyway, once again, special thanks to SunwukongMogar for going over this and thank you all for your support. I do not own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **ENJOY DARLINGS!**

Chapter 13

Plans, doubts, and new chess pieces

It had been a week since everything happened. A week since the Vytal festival began and the tournament was around the corner. A few days before, the breech in the kingdom of Vale where grim swarmed in and went on destroying many lives. A week since three murderers discovered that the one responsible for the recent misery was the same person they killed three months ago. It had been a whole seven days of non-stop pain for everyone that was connected to him in some way and the three were not boding well with the fact that they were responsible for his new outlook on life.

The three were all now sitting together in their dorm room, now minus one bed due to their leader leaving their team for Jaune's old one. They were all silent, reflecting on everything that had occurred and how everything fell apart for the three of them.

"Everything that happened." Blake started and the other two looked at her with a knowing glance. "Team JZZY, the White Fang, Roman Torchwick, the CCT, and the breech." They could hear her voice shake as she listed off the atrocities. "All of that death Jaune caused." Yang's eyes flashed red when she heard that name.

"And even after all of that, Ozpin still wants them to bring him back. Is he INSANE?! We all saw what he has done! What he can do!" The brawler shouted, only to feel Weiss put a hand on her shoulder.

"I agree that the notion of even trying to bring him back is insane, his kill count is evidence to that. But let's try and not destroy our room." she said calmly and Yang slowly calmed down.

"He was enjoying it." Blake then said, earning their attention once more. "When he slaughtered the ones at the warehouse and when he was killing you Weiss. I heard his laughter. You did too. He was reveling in all that death." Weiss shuddered as she remembered that feeling of Jaune crushing her from the inside out. That was a feeling she didn't want to go through again.

"And we were the ones-" she was cut off by Weiss, now a little upset at the horrid truth of it all.

"We know! We don't need to hear it." She shouted and Yang quirked an eyebrow at this.

"Weren't you just telling me to calm down?" she asked and Weiss glared at her.

"Yes." She said, eyeing the brawler. "But it's only going to make things worse if we keep reminding ourselves of what happened. And not to mention the consequences that went with it." She then glared at the floor, remembering what her father had told her

"Honestly I don't know how to feel about what my parents told me." Blake said and the two were surprised at this. she had never mentioned she had parents or any remnant of family. All they knew was that she was a member of the White Fang since she was a child. "Traveling Remnant, all of the four kingdoms without my bow, it just seems…"

"Seems you got off easy." Yang grumbled and Blake looked at her with a shocked look. "You didn't basically get disowned. At least your parents are letting you come back when you're done with your little trip." She growled a bit at remembering what her father had told her after Qrow left. She was told by her father that she wasn't allowed to come home. He would pay for an apartment in Vale and was allowed to come see him during the holidays but that was it. She was kicked out. The island of Patch was no longer her home.

"I think it's safe to say things are not well for any of us." Weiss said. "But my question is what are we going to do about this." they then looked at her confused. "Think about it. We took him out once before. We thought he died when he fell into that pit and we were wrong. The problem I see is despite him mercilessly killing anyone he can get his hands on, the headmaster wants him back here alive." Their eyes widened at her statement.

"Are you saying what I think-" Weiss cut off Yang with a nod.

"We have a syringe and we know that it can hurt him. The only thing we need to do is finish him off. We are limited to time in Vale but we are still students here. We can use the training rooms and prepare for what we know of him and then some." Weiss said at her two surprised teammates. "What do we have to lose? We already were punished. We might as well do what we can to stop a murderer." The others thought about her words and they did make sense. They weren't arrested for what they did and they had a few years before they are forced into their punishments by their parents. "I say we finish what we started and this time make sure the job is done." The two partners looked at each other with reassuring looks and looked at the heiress.

"Ice queen has a point. We don't really have anything else to lose." Yang said as she slammed her fists together. And Blake nodded.

"I don't see the complete harm in it, but if we are going to do this we need to prepare." Blake said giving one more reassuring nod. Weiss grinned with determination knowing that despite what they did, in their skewed perspective, they were finally setting things right.

And to do that they had to kill Jaune Arc.

With Ozpin:

Ozpin was staring at the scroll in his hands. He lost count how many times he went over the files and photos that were taken from RPNR's mission into the Forever Fall. He began to think back to that day a week ago, when he first received the horrifying report.

Flashback one week Ozpin's office:

 _"_ _Are you certain?" Ozpin asked as Qrow took a massive swig from his flask. He then sat down in front of the headmaster._

 _"_ _I saw the scar Oz, it wasn't something a Beowolf could do." Ozpin simply stared at the huntsmen that was now beginning to drown himself in his alcohol._

 _"_ _So, you're saying what they did was justified in self-defense." Qrow scoffed at this and propped his elbow on the desk and pointed to Ozpin._

 _"_ _What I'm saying is that they brought all of this onto themselves. Everything that the queen has been doing. All of her little plans, that was our fight and our fight alone. Even the secrets that we hide, everything leading up to the Reaper existing has been on us. This… thing that has even trained huntsmen pissing themselves, exists because of their faults and abuse towards him. Consider it their generation's first mistake." Ozpin leaned forward, wanting to know where the drunk was going with this._

 _"_ _Are you saying we should let them deal with this problem on their own?" he questioned and Qrow gave him a look that spelled out 'really?'_

 _"_ _Aren't you letting my niece and her friends go after him at the moment?" he asked and Ozpin nodded. "Care to explain to me why you are sending them after a mass murderer?" Ozpin then opened his scroll and showed Qrow a video. The date was the night of the dance and when the CCT was attacked. The video showed a redhead clad in a red dress looking down the barrel of one of the Reaper's shotguns. Qrow could feel the tension in the video as he looked on, only to see the man lower his weapon. Confusion overtook the huntsmen as he saw the man knock out the girl, finish what he was doing at the monitors, and before he was about to leave the room he stayed there looking at her collapsed form for a few moments before disappearing. Ozpin simply shut his scroll after that and looked at his subordinate._

 _"_ _The reason why I sent them after him is because I do believe there is a chance of bringing him back. he could have killed her then and there. But he didn't. You see Qrow," Ozpin stood up and looked out the window. "Ms. Xiao Long was right when she said that he was tormented. But as the bullying continued, his former team and Ms. Rose were the ones that stood by his side. They realized that even though he forged his way into my school, he deserved to be with them and they supported him. Do you think he would kill the ones that truly cared about him and not feel remorse?" he then turned around to face the pondering drunk. "The reason I gave them this mission wasn't that I thought he was their responsibility, but that those four were the only chance of bringing him back and ending this madness." Qrow chuckled a bit at this and Ozpin gave him a questioning look._

 _"_ _I know that isn't the only reason Ozzy." Qrow replied. The headmaster simply nodded his head at this._

 _"_ _If Jaune Arc is detained and in Beacon custody, then and only then will we be able to announce his identity and motives without a panic. We can shed light on this nightmare and serve justice to the ones that made him into what he is now, not only that but it will undo whatever atrocious regulations Jacque Schnee has unleashed on his workers and if presented right, could end him. This would also soften the blow for whatever Jaune's father is going to throw at us." Ozpin said and Qrow let out a frustrated sigh when Alexander Arc was mentioned._

 _"_ _Alex is not going to be happy when he finds out about this" Qrow said with a worried glance and Ozpin nodded._

 _"_ _Either way he will come to us ready for a fight. He will blame Beacon and we will take damage. We know what he has done to others that so much as threatened his family." Ozpin mentally shuddered, remembering what Alexander could do. He guessed that Jaune got his lethality from his father. "When he hears Beacon was a catalyst in turning his son into what he is now, I will not lie we will face some damages. Containing the situation and assuring we are doing what we can to help his son will prevent some of those damages."_

 _"_ _But there's the million-lien question Ozzy, does he even want help?" Ozpin was about to answer when he received a notification from Ruby Rose. It was a picture message and he grimaced at the images that were sent. He sighed with frustration as he looked at the Arc's handiwork at the White Fang outposts. "I don't know Qrow. I don't know."_

Flashback end:

Ozpin sat at his desk as he saw Ironwoods warships occupy the skies of Vale. He mentally sighed as he turned to his monitors and saw the opening ceremony of the Vytal festival. The looks of cheer and happiness apparent on everyone's faces. Ozpin then got out of his chair and looked out to see the Amity Colosseum in the distance. For some reason, even if this was a time for peace, there was a foreboding feeling in his heart.

"Let us hope that this nightmare can finally come to a conclusion."

With Jaune:

"This is where the one who can help us is?" Widowmaker asked as she looked up at the trash heap that was disguised as a building in outer parts of Vale. She was dawning a trench coat, covering her from the autumn chill. Her partner was dawning his usual dark and demented attire and he nodded at her. He walked around to the side of the building and Widowmaker followed suit. Throughout the week of their new partnership she learned little to nothing about the blonde behind the mask, but knew enough that she could count on him when it came to getting results. And while she didn't trust him, she trusted that he knew what he was doing when he yanked the building's cellar door open. He then looked at her and gestured for the sniper to follow him.

As they made way down the damp staircase, she started to notice all the interconnecting cables and wires linking their way to a door at the afar end of the hallway. When they reached the door, they could hear the vibrations of techno music emitting from underneath. Reaper didn't even bother knocking as he disappeared and made his way under the door. The door opened soon after and he held the door open as Widowmaker went inside. She looked around to see the room had a neon purple aesthetic to it and one side was simply an entire wall of monitors and what seemed to be holographic screens of videos playing. Lines upon lines of code was moving at warp speeds through the monitors and Widowmaker had to admit, she was impressed with the amount of technology seemed to wrap around them.

She then saw in the middle of the room was a person reclining in a worn-down office chair. From what she could see, this person was a woman who was unceremoniously sprawled over chair and snoring very loudly despite her small frame. She had a white tank top on and gym shorts on but Widowmaker noticed the neon purple wires around the right side of her head that seemed to go down to her spine. And augmentation perhaps? She saw her partner about to touch the sleeping woman's face until a submachine gun pointed at his head at blinding speeds. The sniper armed her rifle but Reaper put his arm out in front of her, gesturing her to lower it.

"You have five seconds to tell me how you came here and maaaybe I'll make it quick." She said and Reaper simply looked at her.

"Good to see you again Sombra." He said and her eyes widened at his voice. She shot up from her sleeping form and haphazardly tossed her SMG aside to glomp the man in front of her.

"REAPS!" she shouted as she got off him to see the man with his arms folded now. "I was wondering where my favorite outside source was!" this caused Reaper to huff in amusement.

"Well high jacking white fang plans and breeching Vale doesn't happen in one night now." He said in a more casual tone while still retaining his sinister persona.

"OOOOOO that was you?! Damn man, that was crazy!" she then looked over his shoulder to see Widowmaker giving both of them a confused glance. Reaper then faced her and gestured to the smaller woman.

"Widowmaker, this is Sombra. She helped me get information two months ago, while I was still getting the hang of my latent…abilities." He said and they heard Sombra groan.

"Do not remind me about that man, you wanted it all filed and in paper. IN PAPER! Do you know how many trees you killed? More than the amount of people that's how much!" Widowmaker was surprised when she heard him chuckle at this.

"I doubt that Sombra." She rolled her eyes at his remark and looked at Reaper's partner.

"Nice to meet you Widowmaker. I've seen some work you did out in Forever Fall and damn that was some fine shooting." She winked at her and Widowmaker was now confused. How did she know about their trip to Forever Fall.

"Sombra has eyes everywhere." Her partner said answering her question. "It's the reason why we came here." Sombra then sat back into her chair. And spun around in it.

"Alright what do you want? And make it quick I'm almost done downloading a few juicy files." She said and Reaper rolled his eyes at her antics.

"The location of Adam Taurus." He said firmly and she stopped her spinning.

"OOOH going for the big game now huh? I like it. But," Widowmaker tensed a bit, she knew that there was a catch to this. "What's in it for me?" Reaper grunted a bit at this and still kept his gaze on her.

"I let you join in on our little mission." He said as he gestured to Widowmaker. She looked at the two and shrugged as she turned her chair away from them.

"Eh. Sorry Reaps, but I'm not into edge lords or Azul over there. No offense." She turned her head to face Widowmaker at that last response. She was about to retort to this little brat when she heard Reaper let out a little chuckle.

"Did I mention that our little mission will let you directly hack into Beacon servers?" he said and they could see that Sombra's head perked up at this and her chair slowly rotated back to face Reaper and she had a suspicious look.

"Go on." she said and he nodded.

"You get us Adam's location, you join us, I get you access into Beacon. When the festival and tournament is over you are free to go." He simply said. They saw her in deep thought for a few moments until a wide grin spread across her face. She then held out her hand to shake.

"When do we start?"

 **SHES FINALLY HERE BEAUTIES! Sombra has finally joined the fray! The festival is upon us, and who knows what else is to come? Before I go on further though I want to announce that Sombra will be the last Overwatch character I involve in this story. I think this is a good limit and it will satisfy you all.**

 **Anyways I want to once again give my thanks for all of you leaving reviews. Each time I see criticism or a flaw I overlooked in this story, it only fills me with more determination to make it better. And with the help of my beta, I am sure that this will be enjoyable for most. Another thing I want to address. I know more exposition in this chapter. More talky talky less killy killy. BUT! With good reason. This chapter was the most difficult to write for the reason that I wanted to jump into the good stuff but had to restrain myself. Good things are coming all of your way and I hope you are enjoying this story. Leave a comment or review and as always, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	14. Chapter 14

**(Notice: Long author note after chapter) So I know that this chapter is a little later than usual. Reason one being I typed a ten-page research paper in one sitting and then jumped onto this mentally exhausted. No need to say it, that was a big mistake. Reason two is that this one is now introducing some slight changes to the story and I wanted it to be enjoyable. I will get to those changes at the end of the chapter. Anyways, special thanks to SunwukongMogar for being my beta in this and all of you for helping me out in the reviews. I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. Those belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chapter 14

A moment of true fear

"We did it! Anyone else hungry?" Ruby celebrated, only to droop forward with a look of starvation on her face. They had just beat the qualifying rounds that required all four members to fight. despite the sudden change in team dynamic, they beat their opponents with a fair amount of effort.

"Fighting that much could work up an appetite." Ren replied and a thunderous growl echoed throughout the fairgrounds. The three girls looked up to see Ren with somewhat of a shocked look and a blush forming. This caused Ruby and Nora to burst out with uncontrollable laughter while Pyrrha was stifling some giggles.

"I hear there is a good ramen booth down further." Pyrrha said as she calmed herself from her little fit, unlike her other two teammates. She smiled at their antics and began to reminisce on the times they used to be in a four-member team. Back when he was with them… She shook herself out of her daze and gestured them to follow her only stop to see Ruby frantically looking for something.

"Looking for something?" she heard an unknown voice say and her with the rest of her team looked over Ruby to see a girl with mint green hair and red eyes holding her wallet. Before any of them could react, Ruby squealed and glomped the person in front of her. Pyrrha could see for a millisecond, a look of disgust on the stranger and Pyrrha narrowed her eyes.

"Emerald!" their new leader shouted and backed away for a second to see Emerald laughing along with her.

"I saw your fight, pretty good if I say so." She said and Ruby became a little bashful. "By the way, what happened to your other team? I haven't seen them around for a while." Ruby's persona immediately darkened while her fists tightened. This surprised her new friend and before emerald could ask what happened, Ruby perked up.

"Well I can't really say what happened, but well I have a new team now!" she said cheerfully and Emerald was now really confused on what just happened. She mentally shrugged knowing that Ruby probably wouldn't tell her.

"Well it seems that your happy with your new team from what I can see." She said while folding her arms. The pink clad bomber then appeared and squeezed her leader in a tight hug.

"Yup! Besties now!" she cheered. Emerald mentally sighed as she now had to deal with two overly cheerful huntresses in training now.

"Good to hear. Well anyways, I gotta go meet up with my team. De brief from the fighting and all. See you later Ruby." She said as she handed back the Ruby's wallet.

"Bye Emerald!" Ruby waved back and Emerald turned around and trudged away, mentally exhausted from her cheer.

"How was your new friend?" she looked to her right to see her partner Mercury taking a big chunk of cotton candy.

"I can't stand her. How could someone be so happy all the time. And now there's two of them. TWO!" Emerald exclaimed while Mercury laughed at her outburst.

"Relax Em. In fact, I think that our little trip to meet that White Fang guy will ease the stress." He said and Emerald looked confused. "Don't ask me why." He then added, answering her question. "The only thing Cinder told me was that to meet her in an hour. Gives us time to enjoy this place." He said and emerald grumbled as she took a piece of cotton candy.

 **With RPNR** :

"OOOHHH That hit the spot." Ruby said as she pushed the huge but empty ramen bowel away from her. She looked to her left and saw Nora let out a huge belch and Ren wiping his face gently with his napkin. She then noticed that Pyrrha had barley eaten any of her food and concern dawned the leader.

"Pyrrha you haven't eaten a lot." She said and that seem to snap the Spartan out of her dazed state.

"Oh! Sorry. I just was thinking. That's all." She said and the other two then looked to her, also now concerned with what was happening.

"About Jaune?" Ruby asked and Pyrrha nodded. "Pyrrha, we will get him back. I don't know when but-" she was then cut off by Pyrrha.

"That's the thing Ruby. We don't know when. We have no idea how long this will take and how many more people will… end up like the ones at the compound last week." They all mentally shuddered at the gruesome scene that they all saw then. "I just…" she stopped herself and eyed the little necklace holding her compact music box. She ran over the small indentation for the thousandth time that month and let out a small sigh.

"You're not the only one who misses him Pyrrha." Everyone then looked to see Ren with his arms folded. Not in an aggressive way, but in a way where he was thinking carefully of what he would say next. "You may not have noticed but Jaune was like a brother to me. While he had your training sessions, I would tutor him. One hour every weekend. The tutor sessions would then end and the two of us would hang out and talk about things. Hopes, dreams… even family." This earned a surprised look from Nora and confusion from the other two. "What I'm trying to say is that we all lost him. We all think of him. And to see him again, like… that. It hurts us too." He then got up from his bar stool and walked over to Pyrrha, putting a hand on her shoulder. "That's why we are doing this. Not only do you want him back as soon as possible, but we all do. every one of us here. And we will get him back."

The three were shocked at his little speech. They had never heard Ren speak that much in one sitting. Not even Nora, who had grown up with him had expected this. Pyrrha was the first to re-collect herself from his words and she nodded with determination. He nodded back and then looked at Ruby.

"Speaking of which, is there any news on him?" he asked and Ruby shook her head.

"Ozpin hasn't found any leads for the past week and it's beginning to worry me." She said and the others understood. It wasn't his disappearance that concerned them.

It worried them because they all had that feeling that he was going to do something big.

 **With Reaper, Widowmaker, and Sombra:**

"What do you mean you have to stay back?" Reaper growled at Sombra who rolled her eyes at his anger. Widowmaker was simply looking at the two's banter on the subject.

"Listen, this place really doesn't have the best connection." She said as she gestured to the abandoned buildings on the outskirts of the kingdom. "Even with the CCT this area has been a blackout zone for any device including most of my hardware. Why do you think he would be here in the first place? If you want any form of surveillance or support on this, then I have to stay back." Reaper grew irritated at this and glared at her.

"Remember the last time I let you hang back?" he asked and she let out a groan of frustration.

"For Oum's sake Reaps I said I was sorry!" she exclaimed and he folded his arms.

"You locked down every Atlas secutity door on my face while security personnel were on my tail, all for the reason to get YOU your precious info on Jacque Schnee. And that info turned out to be false." He retorted and she glared at him.

"Enough." Widowmaker said as she walked forward. "Can we stop arguing over this and get a move on?" Reaper grumbled at this and Sombra just shrugged. "Sombra, have the files been downloaded yet?" her reply was Sombra shaking her head.

"I got you the location of Taurus but getting personal info is a lot harder than you think arana. Especially being a member of the White Fang and all. I swear their protection is a pain in the ass. But not impossible. There almost done downloading but it will be about fifteen to twenty more minutes. That would be enough time though. I mean I did get you his location and from what I can tell by this place?" she then gestured to the abandoned neighborhood. "He defiantly has a hideout out here." Widowmaker nodded at this.

"Fine. Stay back and keep in constant contact with us." Reaper then said. "When you have his info, tell us all the main points. Any potential weaknesses also. We go in, get Cinders location, kill him, and get out. That clear?" he asked. The two nodded at him and he gestured for Widowmaker to follow him.

"Good luck you two." Sombra playfully said and Reaper simply grumbled once more. The two began to walk through the desolate streets in search of their intended target. The two journeyed further into the dark zone and could tell that no one had been living here for decades, despite being close to Vale.

"So you really think we can't trust her?" Widowmaker asked and Reaper kept heading forward.

"She will find a way out once we fulfill our end of the bargain. Sombra is one to side with the people with the most information. But I think what we have to offer would make it worth her while." He said and Widowmaker quirked an eyebrow.

"She is really that desperate for files on a school?" she asked and Reaper looked at her.

"Ozpin is known for keeping major secrets. She has been trying to find a way in since I met her, but every solution she tries to come up with ends up with her behind bars." He replied and she nodded at this.

"Then what makes you so sure your plan would work and not end with all of us killed or behind bars?" she asked and she could tell her was grinning behind his mask.

"No one's going to focus on a hacker when a murderer starts shooting up the fairgrounds." Widow irked a bit at how sickening he sounded. Yes, she had killed many people and felt no hesitation when ending a life, but the way he said it, what happened to him to make him have so little regard for life in the first place?

"Hey you two!" they heard Sombra over their earpieces. "I'm seeing some movement up ahead. You two may want to get into position. Al-o so-eon- els-." Reaper became concerned at this due to the static coming in and out of earpiece.

"Sombra. Sombra!" he then writhed a bit in frustration before looking at Widowmaker.

"Like she said, this place is a dark zone. I'm not surprised this happened. If she really wants that information, she wouldn't have done that on purpose." Reaper had a look of conflict on his face. Widowmaker guessed whatever she had truly done to him in the past really impacted his trust in her. "This way." She said and launched her grapple hook to the fourth floor of an abandoned building. He looked at her with a question and she rolled her eyes. "I know you use the wind to get to higher places and unfortunately for you. There is no wind. Just how I like it." She said and he shrugged while grabbing her shoulders. She mentally shuddered at how cold his hands were before shaking the foreboding feeling off and zipped up to the abandoned floor with her partner in tow. As soon as they reached it and made their way inside. They quickly went to the other side of the building to get a view on their surroundings and when they got to the viewpoint overlooking the destroyed courtyard beneath them, they couldn't tell if they got lucky, or if Sombra already knew.

Because below them was not only Adam Taurus, but Cinder Fall and what appear to be her servants. Including that ice cream themed girl that was always with Roman.

Reaper couldn't believe how lucky they got on this find. Not only would they take out Adam, but they would kill the one that they were looking for in the first place. Reaper grinned menacingly at this and looked to his side tell Widowmaker his plan for what to do next. Only to see her wide eyed and having somewhat of a furious look aimed at the raven-haired target. He became confused at this when he saw her almost seething through her teeth.

"Hey. Hey!" he said while shaking her shoulder. She snapped out of her daze and looked at him. "What's wrong?" She didn't respond to this and instead her goggles clamped over her eyes and she took aim at Cinder.

"It's nothing." She said "Get down there. Do you even know what you're going to do?" she then looked at him hold up his hand to see smoke swirling around it. She nodded at this and kept her sights trained on Cinder's head.

Reaper disappeared and his smoke trail gently fell to the ground and he made his way to cover. Before he got there though, he wondered what was that all about with Widowmaker. He had known her for just a bit but he had never see her look that angry before. He decided to bring that up after they got this done. He was about to jump out of cover to ambush them until he heard the conversation between Adam and Cinder.

"I swear if I lose any more people because you refused to do anything," he heard a livid Adam Taurus say. Reaper looked out form his cover to see that the fuanus was readying his blade at the woman.

"I honestly don't know what's making you this angry. You have more reinforcements, don't you? Just use those when the time comes." Cinder said in a sarcastic tone that seemed as if she could care less about the casualties in the White Fang.

"Besides the ones that aren't already dead," Adam spat back. "The others don't want to leave the base. Thinking that they'll end up like the others at the warehouse and the breech. And speaking of which, where were you when all of that happened?" Reaper noticed Cinder's form tense up for a second but then relax as her smirk formed.

"That doesn't matter now." She said and Adam was inches away from drawing Wilt from his sheath. "Because we have an uninvited guest." She then looked to Reaper's direction. "Isn't that right?" Reaper mentally sighed at this and morphed once more into smoke, appearing right before the five people that were now in front of him. Adam looked furious at his presence while Cinder seemed to be pleased with him showing up. What really stood out though was the terrified look on the Neopolitin themed girl. He inched toward her a bit and she flinched at his sudden movement. His little taunt was ended by Cinder stepping in between them.

"I have heard a bit about you for a while now." She said and Reaper simply nodded at this, gesturing her to go on. "Despite literally de-railing my plans and killing anyone you see fit, I have been interested at the notion of us meeting for the first time." Reaper tilted his head in curiosity and she continued. "You see. It seems that we seem to be butting heads on a common goal."

"And that goal is?" he then asked and she kept looking at him with amusement.

"To see Beacon and Vale burn." He remained silent at this. "So why do we have to keep meeting up expecting death on our side when we can spill blood on the others." Adam tensed at this. there was no way she was actually trying to recruit this psychopath. If that happened, then his troops would surly revolt.

"What about your pet?" He asked and this made Adam step forward, growling at Reaper. He simply chuckled at the faunus's anger and Cinder stopped him from continuing further.

"You bring out the fear in all of them. Controlling them wouldn't be too hard, now would it?" she asked and he contemplated her words. She then offered her hand for him to shake. "Why not rule with fear like you've already been doing. But this time with an army?" she said, waiting for him to respond. To everyone's surprise, he reached for hand. Ready to shake it.

Widowmaker tensed at the scene that was happening before her. She heard the discussion and what he was agreeing to. The question was that was he really joining her? Would he just throw away the work that they had both done so much to gain? Would he really throw the chance of her death away for the opportunity of power? These questions circled through Widowmaker's head for a few moments until her eyes narrowed and her heartbeat slowed. It was time she took the situation into her hands.

 **Third person Jaune Arc's perspective:**

Jaune was now inches away from shaking her hand. inches from having his aura wrap around her and crushing her from the inside. Her little lapdogs and the faunus wouldn't be able to stop it and he would be able to off the one that was behind it all. just a little more and he could end this.

*BLAM!*

Jaune looked up to his partner with shock and confusion. He saw the smoke from her barrel and he knew then and there that things were going to escalate. Before he could turn back around he felt an immense sting in his shoulder and let out a cry before he fell to his knees. He writhed in the agony that he had felt before, he looked to face Cinder and saw that she was carrying a syringe while dawning a sinister grin. It was clear though that she was Widowmaker's intended target due to the graze on her left cheek now being healed by aura. Jaune then saw her form a bow in her hands at blinding speeds and took fire onto widow's position. From the noise of impact and the scream of pain that soon came after he was pretty certain Cinder's aim was true.

"Looks like our little friend is out of steam." She said as she cupped his chin. Forcing him to look up to her in a fit of pain and rage. "I'll let you have this one Adam." She said as she walked off with the rest of her team. He saw the bull faunus approach him, unsheathing his sword.

"Gladly." He said as he laid a downward strike on Jaune. He barley dove out of the way in a frantic matter. Despite the pain, he was still able to move.

"So many of my troops. gone. killed. mutilated." Adam said as he slashed at him again. Jaune ducked this time and dove forward to get behind his opponent. Jaune gritted his teeth at the situation he was in. He didn't have his power or aura to help him, so that meant there was no way he could summon his weapons. not even his damn sword. He then noticed that when he rolled, his mask came off and Adam was staring at his face. "ALL BY A FUCKING KID!" Adam charged in a blind but focused rage once more and with each strike, Jaune was losing balance and momentum. He couldn't keep up with this speed. As fast as he was, he wasn't this fast. Not to mention if he did get hit when he used his aura, it would just phase through him. He slightly grunted in pain when Adam landed a strike across his chest. he forgot the familiar sting that a blade carried and for the first time in three months, he was afraid.

Adam kept bombarding him with slashes and thrusts, some landing hits but the rest he avoided with a minimum amount of grace. Jaune prayed that his smoke would come back soon. That he could dissipate, gut this fucker, and leave, but it never came. he kept dodging and weaving and still his power didn't return.

"Reaps!" Jaune heard Sombra say through his earpiece. He was now a few meters away from the enraged faunus. "I got comms back up! Widow isn't responding! What the hell is happening?!" she asked and Jaune was now panting.

"Widowmaker blew it. Fighting Adam now. Syringe made me lose my smoke. How fast can you get here?" he asked in between breaths and noticed that his voice was back to what it was before he turned into his current self.

"Fifteen, twenty minutes at most." Jaune sighed and let down his head for a second. he wouldn't survive that long if this kept up and his mind was racing. trying to find a way out of this.

"Sombra, do you have the info on Adam? Any dirt? Something that I can use?" He then stood up and took a breath. now facing his enemy.

"It's almost done. Ninety-five percent. I'll tell you when I have it. Heading your way now." as soon as she said that Adam rushed forward and launched his sheath at him. he barley dodged it but got a deep cut from his follow up strike. Jaune winced at the sudden sting while landing a solid punch to Adam's face. The blonde mentally screamed at his fist making contact with Adam's aura. He always had his weapons to cleave through aura. They lacked in firing speed but they always left a mark on his victim's. Aura or no aura. But in this case, he was now slamming his bare fists into something that could be classified as a force field and it hurt. Adam stumbled back and Jaune followed through with two more left hooks and ending with a uppercut. Each punch hurting more than the last, but he was thankful for being able to pull through the pain. Those fist fights at Beacon that eventually turned into his beatings actually came in handy. As he took a few breaths, he felt his ears throbbing and his heart was beating violently. the electricity in the air was obvious in the two's dual and both could directly feel it.

"Have to admit I'm disappointed." Adam sneered and Jaune glared at him. "All that murder leading up to this," Adam sped forward, only to pull a feint and strike from behind. Jaune put his arm up in time and felt another cut seep into his skin. He fell backwards and was now on his back. Adam stood on top of him and readied his blade at Jaune's head. "What a complete disappointment." he said as he thrusted down, only for Jaune to catch it inched from his face. his hands stung on impact and he could feel the blood seeping through his fingers, making his grip loosen.

"Tell me, do you feel it?" Adam hissed as he was struggling to force down his sword. "That feeling of fear and dread swarming you? That same feeling that you made all of my people feel?! HUH?!" Jaune wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing but he actually was. All of this planning and prep, all to go flying out the window over an idiotic mistake. The sword was growing closer, but he didn't close his eyes. he would deny this animal any satisfaction of killing him.

"Reaper!" He heard Sombra through his earpiece and nearly loosened his grip due to the surprise.

"Please tell me you have something!" Jaune struggled to say as he was focused on this test of strength and tolerance to pain as the sword slowly carved through his hands.

"I got really little. All I have is some info on where he grew up and a partner he had." Jaune let out a small cry due to the blade slicing deeper.

"ANYTHING!" he yelled back and he saw adam smirking at his slowly growing panic.

"I don't know if this will help but his partner's name was Blake Belladonna!" she yelled back with urgency and his eyes widened.

"Say that name one more time." He said, praying that what he heard was right.

"Her name is Blake Belladonna! She was a former White Fang Member and the last time she was spotted was at Beacon!" After she said that Jaune zoned out for a second to comprehend what was happening.

no way.

There was no fucking way that this was happening. The universe. The entire cosmos that had been a grade A asshole to him these past three months. The same universe that had him as the butt of their sick jokes,

had just thrown him a bone.

Jaune grinned from ear to ear at this news. He then saw Adam's confusion despite the white fang mask. "If you want to blame anyone blame your bitch Blake." As soon as he said her name he felt a slight decrease in weight being thrusted upon him.

"What are you saying?" Adam demanded and he felt the blonde slowly push back and getting some space between him and the blade.

"Didn't she tell you? She was a big reason why I am the way I am now. She found out first hand when she hid under the corpses of your rabid followers." He saw the anger rising but it was unfocused, giving Jaune more wiggle room. "And believe me, I promise to give her what she deserves. Maybe even play with her before I rip her ears off. Maybe the kitty likes doggy style." This is what made Adam snap.

Adam let out a roar and reeled back the blade to thrust it down even harder. This was the chance he needed. Jaune shot up as he reeled his sword back and once more slammed his fist into Adam's face. At this point Jaune grew immune to the aching in his fists. He had no time to let up. This was a fight for survival now. He followed up with punch after punch. Adam tried to retaliate by thrusting Wilt forward and trying to get some distance, but due to his unfocused fury, his attacks were much slower and Jaune was able to telegraph when to attack.

Jaune let out one more cry of rage and with his last punch, he felt Adam's aura shatter. This was his chance to end this. While the bull faunus was recovering from the barrage of punches, Jaune grabbed him by both his horns and thrusted his head down to his knee, snapping his horns off as his face made contact. a roar of agony rang through the abandoned buildings that engulfed the outer parts of Vale. Adam recoiled and grasped the broken parts of his horns. He desperately gasped for breath, trying to make the pain go away. Despite his vision blurring, he saw the blonde approach him slowly still holding his horns. He then gave Adam a swift kick to the face and now knocking his White Fang mask off. Now looking at the blonde reaper's malicious grin.

"But before I even lay a finger on her, I'm going to take my time with you." That was the last thing Adam heard as he felt his horns being shoved into his eyes, leading to one final scream before succumbing to the darkness.

 **With Sombra:**

Sombra looked in shock at the scene in front of her. blood decorated the ground in the area Reaper and his victim were in and she saw him panting heavily. His neck arched up while his eyes were closed, trying to catch his breath and letting the adrenaline wear off. She then almost gagged as she saw the two horns in the corpse's eyes. Reaper looked towards her way and she noticed that he wasn't wearing his mask. She recognized this as she saw his blonde hair drooping over his blue eyes that were robbed of all innocence. The proof was the mangled body of Adam Taurus.

"Are you really going to do what you said?" she asked. He looked up to see her disturbed look. "I heard it over the comms. You really gonna do that to her?" He flinched at the disgust in her voice.

"Removing her ears? Yes. The other part was to piss off this asshole. Nothing more." He said as he looked to her. "Widowmaker is up on the fourth floor of that building. Possibly dead. I don't know. If she isn't I need you to take her back to your safe house." He said and she looked at him with some concern.

"What about you?" she asked and he stomped on one of the horn's digging deeper into the body's eye.

"I'll meet you there. This fucker is going to be an example to those that are going to get what's coming. An omen of sorts." He said as he picked up Adam's sword. It wasn't his style but it would get the job done. He looked over his shoulder and saw her a little shocked at his statement.

"I promise you I will be there. Also, I will need you to upload a photo to every scroll that is logged to the CCT. But that's when I get back. Now go." She nodded at this and threw her translocator to the fourth floor. He sighed in somewhat relief as he then eyed the corpse and let out a sick grin. "Blake will love this." he said and went to work.

 **With WBY:**

"Jeez Blake, you have to hit so hard?" Sun asked as he was recovering from a few hits she landed on him. They were currently sparring in one of the training rooms with the rest of her team and to say that they were relentless to the monkey faunus was an understatement. He and his partner Neptune didn't mind helping them train and Neptune saw this as a way to get closer with Weiss since this was the first time he had truly talked to her since the dance. As the fighting went on though the two guys realized that they may have made a mistake in agreeing to train with them since their view of training was apparently going for death blows.

"Sorry Sun." Blake said as she helped him up. "But I do. We have to prepare." She said and Sun nodded at this.

"So, if that Reaper guy shows up you'll all have a better chance of beating him?" Neptune asked as he was trying to get out of an ice prison Weiss conjured up with her dust. Yang then punched a chunk of the ice and the rest shattered. Neptune fell to his knees and then brushed himself off.

"More or less." The brawler said. She was about to add on until she heard a vibration go off into her back pocket. The reason why everyone was confused now was that all of their scrolls had gone off at the same time.

"A notification from the city maybe?" Neptune said as he reached for his along with the rest of them. They all stopped in their tracks when they heard an unfamiliar scream echo in the training hall. They all turned to see Blake, wide eyed and hyperventilating. They were all confused at this and noticed she was staring agape at her scroll. Curiosity got the better of them all and they all opened the untitled message they received.

"SWEET MERCIFUL OUM!" Sun shouted as he dropped his scroll.

"That is sick." Neptune added with a look of horror.

"Oh my Oum why?" Weiss was the one to say that as her grip on her scroll quivered.

"That bastard." Yang growled as she stared at the screen in front of her with red eyes.

They all turned to Blake who had now stopped hyperventilating and stood up. She rushed out of the room and they all followed. They saw her looking frantically down both sides of the hallway and her eyes narrowed with a primal fury as she made her way to the new team RPNR that just so happened to be making their way back to their dorm.

Before anybody got a hold on the situation, Blake yanked Ruby by her hood and slammed her against the wall. Everyone was shocked at this sudden burst of anger and before Ruby's team could retaliate, Blake's scroll was shoved into the rose's face.

"THAT is what your trying to bring back! THAT!" Blake shrieked. Tears were now visible for everyone to see and as Ruby was about to ask what she was talking about, her eyes then went to the image on the scroll.

She nearly wretched and gagged at the imaged and the others were now curious at what she had just seen. Nora snatched the scroll from Blake and showed it to other two teammates.

Only to see a decapitated corpse nailed up on a wall by what seemed like horns puncturing his hands. His stomach was slit open, allowing his entrails to leak out and droop to the dirt below. Fresh and caked blood was everywhere around the body but what made it truly revolting was by its side, a sword of sorts was stabbed into the ground and the head of said victim was propped on the hilt of it. Deep crimson circles took the spots of where his eyes should have been and there were broken pieces of horn embedded in the head, showing that the horns were snapped off. The final touch to the gore was the message sprawled in blood "Reap what you sow." written above the body.

Nora gasped in shock at this while Ren looked at the image wide eyed. Pyrrha stared on into the grotesque image, trying to comprehend that the one who did this was the one she still believed that they could bring back. they all looked at their former friends to see they were all now angry.

"I will never forgive that thing." Blake hissed at the four. "He will die. I WILL make sure of that." and with that Blake turned around and stormed off. The rest of her group soon followed, leaving a shell-shocked team RPNR to dwell on the image they all just saw while doubts began to set in. wondering if they could really bring back the one they called a friend. The exact same one that did this.

 **Well beautiful people. That's a wrap on this chapter. (Sees torches and pitchforks.) Before I say anything else. We will get A LOT more of Sombra next chapter and maybe some unanswered questions will come to light. That's all I will say on that. Now onto the changes. The first one that isn't that vital is the bold font on the changes of perspectives. I was told by my beta that it would help indent a scene change and I agree on the matter. Now the second one is really important. It's one word and a lot of reviewers have mentioned it. Aura. And I have to say the lack of it or only using it as a plot device is on me. It was one of the things I overlooked pretty late into the chapters and I was having a hard time integrating it into the story without it seeming like "OH HERES AURA NOW!" that's just lazy and none of you deserve that crap. You all deserve the best I have to offer and I intend on giving you my best. As chapters go on I will slowly integrate it into the story as I did in the fight so it will soon be much more common. Besides those two changes I hope you all enjoyed this.**

 **I also have to announce that I am overjoyed that this story has over 200 favorites and follows. I had no idea this story would come this far and I am grateful for all of your support. I intend to keep doing my best and then some for you all. Ok that long ass author note is over. Leave a review if you want and as always beauties, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	15. Chapter 15

**HOLY SHIT THIS IS A LONG ONE! HELLO AGAIN! SparkyDapperDab19 here with another chapter of Reaping with Sorrow. I am happy once again to see all of you enjoying this story and hope you enjoy what's about to happen. I do not own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chapter fifteen

The fresh but tender bonds of partnership

"Mind telling me what the hell that was?!" Jaune yelled at Widowmaker. After Jaune was done making a message out of the late Adam Taurus, he came back to the base to see that Cinder didn't kill her, but the arrow shot through Widowmaker's scope and it wasn't for her goggles, she would have been killed. When Jaune came back to see her acting fine despite the bandage on her head, he lost it.

"I missed." She simply shrugged and now the blonde was glaring at her.

"Oh, mind telling me why you looked like you wanted to rip Cinder's head off when we saw her then? You were nearly hyperventilating when we saw her. So please explain to me why you missed." He retorted and Widowmaker returned the glare. Amber eyes against now sapphire.

"Guys." Sombra tried to interrupt but to no avail. Jaune then through his hands up in frustration.

"Not only did I nearly get gutted by that animal, but because of your little trigger happy stunt, Cinder got away and now I don't have my aura! Which I don't know if you already know this, but that hampers our plans pretty severely." Widow simply rolled her eyes at his little outburst.

"So, the edgy teen lost his smoke because of a little shot." Sarcasm was dripping from her statement and Jaune glared with more anger.

"That smoke. Has been the one thing keeping us ahead of them all. Not to mention the only place that syringe could come from is from Beacon." Both Sombra and Widowmaker tensed a bit at this. "Yea. Not only Cinder is somehow a student there, but she could send the whole school and the Atlas military at us and we would have no way of escaping." Widowmaker shrugged at this and shouldered her rifle.

"Then we leave. They won't expect us coming to them tonight if they know that you don't have your aura.

"I'm supposed to be dead. Not really able to go out at the moment."

"It's the costume themed night at the fairgrounds. Figure something out. You have the edgy teenager down to a T." Widow retorted and Jaune folded his arms at this.

"Really? Going to mock my aesthetic choices? That's just hypocritical."

"Oh, please do go on." Widowmaker said with a chuckle.

"You have the word 'nightmare' and a black widow tattooed on your back. Spider goggles, and a grapple hook to add to your spider shtick. Oh, and I wonder what your name is?" Jaune threw his arms up in the air once more. "Oh, wow its Widowmaker!" Sombra's eyes widened when he said this. she then looked to her other teammate that was now quiet. She was hoping that this wasn't going where she thought it was.

"Uh Reaps?" she said but the blonde continued in his little rant.

"What were you thinking when you started out?" He then made a mock voice of her. "I'll make widows out of everyone!" Sombra saw that Widowmaker fists were shaking a bit.

"Reaper I think she gets it." She was once more ignored.

"I'll kill your husband!" he mockingly said as he pointed in one direction. "I'll kill her husband!" he then pointed in another direction.

"JAUNE!" Sombra shrieked this time and Jaune struggled to ignore her urgency.

"HELL! I'LL KILL MY OWN HUS-" His sentence was cut short when he felt himself being thrown over Widowmakers shoulder. He landed on the center table, destroying it in the process. He was about to get up until he felt one of her high heels digging into his neck. Her rifle was aimed right between his eyes and he noticed despite the livid look she had, he saw tears forming in her eyes. The same second he noticed this, he felt the pressure on his windpipe decrease and saw her bolt out of the room. There was a silence that hung across the small safe house until a sigh from Sombra could be heard.

"I told you to stop hermano. You just didn't listen." She said and Jaune looked at her with a hint of anger, but mostly confusion.

"What do you know about her?" He said sarcastically only to kick himself. Who asks an intelligence expert that?

"You honestly think I didn't do my research on you two before I joined? While I already knew a few tidbits about you, Widow was a new find. But I did find some info that she would find sensitive." She said while crossing her legs in her seat.

"And that info is?" He asked and he noticed Sombra sighed slightly.

"That she DID kill her husband." This made Jaune go wide eyed. "Feel like a piece of shit now? Good because apparently, Cinder played a role in it. I couldn't find out what, but considering what you said about her being pissy when taking the shot, it was pretty bad." This made the blonde go silent and Sombra rolled her eyes. "Alright you can go apologize to her later. In the meantime get ready for tonight. I am actually on board with Widows idea on getting the info." Jaune then stepped forward with a hint of anger.

"I told both of you. I can-" Sombra put her finger to his lips.

"Ah-ah-ah. I got you Adam. You get me my files tonight. Besides the outfits came today. I was planning on celebrating tonight anyway. It's a perfect time for you two to dress up and bond anyway. Besides keeping watch for guards trying to ruin my fun." Jaune's eyes narrowed at this. one thing he learned from negotiating with Sombra, she always got what she wanted.

"You honestly think she will be a part of this after what just happened?" His only response was her pointing at the packages at the front door. Seeing that only two were there now.

"Relajate. She sent me a message to say she was still on board. She still pissed at you though. I don't know about you but this would be a good night to apologize." Jaunes fists tightened at this and Sombra groaned with frustration. "Oh, come on Jaune. I know for the past few months you have not had the best time with people, but for just this once can you not act like an edgy dick and help a friend out? I mean she had saved your ass a few times in the Forever Fall. I saw the footage." Jaune frowned at this and grabbed the package with his name on it. Sombra smiled at this and turned back to her computers. "You should be grateful. I got that custom made for you all the way from Mistral. That was not cheap." That was the last thing he heard from her as he went to his area of the safe house and opened the box to see the contents inside.

"You have got to be kidding me."

 **With Ozpin:**

The headmaster was looking through his monitors and watching the people become more and more excited that night was coming. After all it was the halfway mark of the festival and that meant that it was the night of monsters.

During the negotiations on the island of Vytal, tensions escalated and the ugly face of war was rearing its ugly head once more. The tension and cluster of negative emotions attracted an unholy amount of grim and attacked nearby settlements and the island itself. It wasn't until the third day. The halfway point in negotiations when the four rulers sought a solution. A boost in moral among the people of Remnant. They would dawn different outfits and personas, psychologically altering their emotions and instead of being constantly afraid, they could find a way to fight back as not as themselves, but as the ones they aspired to be. After the first night of driving off the grim, tensions simmered and peaceful negotiations could be discussed in the future of Remnant. That night though was the true turning point in the Great War as a whole due to the people finally conquering their fears, even if it was for just one night. And a major reason that the people drove the grim back was because they dawned the roll of terrifying creatures themselves. Appropriating the name of the night as such.

"Headmaster Ozpin, you have a visitor heading up to your office." He heard the receptionist in the lobby say. "I tried to reason with him but he refused to wait." Ozpin grew a little confused at this and decided to remain flexible at the sudden news. The elevator doors soon opened and his hands clenched tight together as he saw Alexander Arc along with his wife, Maria.

"Well this certainly is a surprise." Ozpin said as he leaned forward. "It is good to see you both. It has been a few months now." The blonde man with hints of age at his side burns walked forward to the headmaster. His white and gold armor clinking along his chest as his cloak shrouded over his shoulders. Ozpin could see from the weary look on both his and his wife's faces that they had seen better days.

"You probably know why we are here." Alexander said as he looked down at the sitting headmaster. Ozpin nodded at this. He indeed did know. After all, the world was shocked with the sudden but gruesome image of Adam Taurus. One of the higher officials of the White Fang and the same organization the man in front of him supported in the past. Of course, tensions would rise at this news but Ozpin didn't expect the Arcs to respond in less than twenty-four hours.

"I know that it involves the recent passing of Adam Taurus." Ozpin replied and he heard a growl of irritation not from Alexander, but Maria. The short but fierce woman with brunette locks of hair and dressed in similar battle attire to her husband rushed forward with a scroll in her hands. She shoved the same image everyone with a scroll saw.

"Then please tell us why you haven't done anything to the one who made almost all my daughters scream and now refuse to touch their scrolls?!" She mentally groaned at the amount of time it took her, her husband, and her two eldest daughters Violet and Johanna to calm down the younger siblings that were screaming hysterically for almost two hours.

"I assure you Maria, that Beacon and the Atlas military have taken precautions to make sure that nothing like… that will happen during the festival." Ozpin replied and Alexander folded his arms.

"Like how you all were prepared for the Breech? That was caused by the same person mind you?" He asked and Ozpin nodded at this.

"Like I have said. We have taken precautions on this assailant and the next time he shows up, we will be ready." He replied.

"Then let us help." Maria said, now joining her husband by folding her arms as well. "You know that we would be a massive help to not just your defenses, but the people. Consider it a boost in morale." Ozpin knew she had a point. Not just Alexander, but the whole Arc family was known amongst the faunus community and their appearance at the Vytal festival would defiantly help, but it could drastically hurt too. He had to consider the outburst of rage Alexander would display if RPNR or the others that know the true identity of Reaper would tell him unintentionally. He couldn't risk another potential threat. Not while so many were already prevalent.

"I will have to decline your request." Ozpin said and the room's tension amplified. "Maria, you and I both know that I wouldn't allow this festival to go on without some sort of protection, An ace in the hole of sorts that would ensure the safety of the ones here. And I assure you that we will be ready. Ready enough for what is to come."

"You know who he is don't you?" Ozpin looked up to Alexander who had an intense glare toward Ozpin. "You know who he is and your trying to capture him. Just like every other time some criminal or rare but dangerous grim appears. Instead of taking out the threat you want to study and analyze it just like the rest of the bureaucrats in the council.

"For good reason Alexander." The Arc slammed his hands on the table and now was angry.

"What reason is there to capture and detain a psychopath?!" He yelled, but Ozpin stayed motionless in his seat. "I've seen what he has done on the news. I know what he is capable of, why in your right mind, would you want this… THING alive?!" Ozpin gave him no response. All the headmaster did was meet the man in front of him with the same intense glare.

"Enough Alex." Maria said while putting her hand on top one of his arms. "We need to leave. Clearly he doesn't know when to accept help." She spat and the two turned to the elevator. Before the doors closed, Ozpin could see the tranquil rage in both of their eyes. When the doors shut, Ozpin let out a shaky sigh as he had let out a breath that he didn't know he had. He then looked out the window to see night had fallen on the festival and the celebrations were beginning.

"I just hope that this will all be solved soon." He said as he looked at a nearby file. A file that showed a photo of a smiling Jaune Arc.

 **With Jaune:**

The fairgrounds were cramped and crowded with people running and screaming with joy and Jaune truly despised it. Not because of the positive energy he saw in everyone dawning their costumes. It was the constant contact with people running or bumping into him. Due to his aura, he would simply phase through objects if he wanted to and even if something physically made contact, it would feel vague. As if his sense of touch was dulled when he emerged from the pit. This sudden change though. being able to feel everything now at full capacity was almost overwhelming in a bad way. The one thing he kept doing as he made his way through the crowd was to check his aura levels on his scroll. And for the fifth time that hour, it still read empty.

He growled a bit and put his scroll in his back pocket. He looked down at his costume to see if anything was sticking out, he was basically wearing what he usually wore but instead of this cloak having a hood, it had a very pointed collar that was also in more of a greyish tone. His buckles and straps consisited of a skull and crossbones theme and to top it all off his mask was a pumpkin.

A fucking pumpkin.

He had no idea what Sombra was thinking of when getting him this grey and orange themed atrocity. Despite its… unorthodox appearance, the jack-o-lantern fit quite well on his head and he had no trouble seeing out of it, despite no one could see in. He began to once more brave the crowds of people until he stumbled a bit and was shoved into a person.

"WHAT THE HELL MAN?!" Jaune's eyes widened as he heard that familiar voice. That same cocky, obnoxious, hate filled voice that tormented him through his time at beacon. He looked up to see Cardin Winchester with a livid look. Apparently, him toppling into the bully caused his drink to spill on him and all over his poorly made costume of what appeared to be a zombie. Jaune felt his collar being pulled forward and he was now face to face with Cardin. "This took a lot of effort to make asshole." Jaune stifled a chuckle as he knew that this was a last-minute job. He had seven sisters and knew what effort looked like in the world of fashion. Apparently, Cardin heard him laugh a bit and he shook Jaune for a few seconds. "That funny to you? You pathetic piece of shit?" Jaune's eyes snapped onto Cardin's when he said this and growled a bit. He hated hearing the words he was saying. It was the same shit he had to deal with back at Beacon, but this time though he couldn't do anything to retaliate. If he did he would probably get hurt since he had no means to protect himself and also, he had to maintain cover. If he even spoke Cardin would know who he was and shit would definitely hit the fan.

"I think that is enough." A voice said to the left of them and they both turned to see a masked woman dressed in a very short but aristocratic dress. The black and turquoise corset wrapped around her tightly and the two could tell that the pale white make-up all over her skin was artificial, but applied very well. Jaune could tell from the cool tone and tantalizing accent who the person was behind the masquerade mask.

"Listen lady, this asshol-" he was cut short when she put a hand on his shoulder and from what Jaune could see, she was applying a lot of pressure on that spot. Cardin began making discomforting noises as the pressure slowly grew on him. He let go of the pumpkin themed reaper and gave him one more glare before storming off further into the fair grounds.

"Thanks." Jaune muttered as Widowmaker looked at him with irritation. She simply turned around and headed off to the main courtyard of the fairgrounds. Jaune mentally kicked himself as he looked to see in the direction she headed off to.

"Hey Jaune." He heard Sombra over his earpiece. I'm almost to Beacon. Any sign of Widow?" Jaune nodded at this.

"Yea. I just saw her. She went to scout more into the festival. Call if anything comes up." He replied and decided to follow his partner and hope he can finally put this awful day behind him.

He made his way once more through the crowd but this time he was receiving looks of awe and compliments in all directions. He felt his eyes strain with some scrolls flashing in his face and he was truly starting to loathe this costume. Not only was it impractical, but a complete eyesore in his field of work. Who the hell would wear a pumpkin for a head? For the others that were surrounding him, they thought it was one of the best costumes made and this was beginning to draw unneeded attention.

As he finally made his way to the main area of the celebration, he looked all over for any trace of Widowmaker until he stopped looking around and focused on the woman sitting at one of the tables in the corner of the courtyard. He let out a breath of relief he didn't know he was holding and made his way to her. As he sat down, he noticed that she hadn't even bothered to notice him.

"Nice night out huh?" he said, but received no response from her. Not even eye contact. If he didn't already feel like a piece of shit, well he did now.

"Wido-" he was cut off when she turned to face him. Her irritated look was now more of a troubled expression. The silence lasted a few moments until she sighed.

"Amelie." She said and he grew confused at her response. "My name is Amelie Lacroix." Jaune's eyes widened behind his mask and she continued on. "I guess I should let you know why I was so upset. You at least deserve to know that." Jaune simply leaned forward to listen more intently and she smirked at his awkward movement. "I was born and raised in Mistral. My family wasn't the wealthiest, but we were considered aristocrats. Imagine the lowest part of nobility. That was where my family resided. However, I was put into an arranged marriage when I was seventeen. My suitor was a huntsman. He was well known in the area we lived in and even though we were forced to marry, I didn't mind. He was very kind to me and understood the situations between our families. Our marriage was considered the symbol of peace between our two families." She paused a bit and Jaune could tell that bringing this up was difficult for her. He may not have a lot in common with her, but he knew how hard it was to relive bad memories.

"Most would think that I would have despised the situation I was in. But in reality, I enjoyed it. The years went by and I soon fell in love with him. He was a very passionate man. Very valiant and would never turn a blind eye to the wrong in this He saw that I was his equal in everything and would always ask for my assistance as support in his missions. Even when he had to take on an excursion in a different kingdom he would always call me and ask for my advice on the matter." She smiled a bit at this but Jaune saw that it quickly went away.

"That is until a White Fang protest that turned into a riot happened not too long ago. It went from a simple protest to full out violence in a matter of minutes and I was among one of the protestors. While I am not faunus, my husband and I supported their equal rights. The White Fang attacked any human they could get their hands on. Including me. I was kidnapped by them and was put in a wooden Cell in one of their outposts on the border between Mistral and Anima. I was then shipped to Vale. I was well known among Mistral due to my husband's actions of kindness and we developed a positive reputation and I guess that the White Fang could use me to get at my husband."

"Use you as leverage." Jaune said and she nodded at this. Jaune's fists tightened at hearing this and before he could say anything else, she continued on.

"I was still in my portable cage when Cinder came to the White Fang for assistance." Jaune could feel the venom come out of her mouth when she said that name. "After "convincing" Adam to join her cause, she noticed me and took me to a place far worse than I have already seen." For the next few months, that bitch tortured me. She and some demented scorpion Faunus. Despite the two hating each other, they bonded over my pain. I was pushed to my limits physically and mentally day in and day out as I was subjected to terrible methods of pain. It was then when SHE came to see how my progress came along."

"She?" Jaune asked and Amelie shook her head.

"I don't know her name but I know she wasn't human. She was something else. Possibly grim. I don't know. Anyway, she thought I needed a little more encouragement. And that encouragement was in the shape of a syringe carrying some black substance." Jaune's eyes widened at this bit of information.

'Is she talking about what I think she's talking about?' He thought as Amelie was taking a moment to recollect her thoughts and emotions.

"As she injected whatever she put into me, I felt my aura flare. An unimaginable burning spread all over but the problem was that I couldn't do anything. It was crawling literally under my skin until it reached my heart. As soon as it reached it my body went from burning to freezing all over. Turns out whatever that was, slowed my heart and made my blood chill. My body temperature had dropped and that's the reason why my skin is blue." She said as Jaune was now looking at his feet, trying to process what she was saying. Considering the circumstances and her saying that whoever that woman was, was maybe part grim, the concept of her being subjected to the same thing he went through was becoming more likely.

"After that, they began to mentally brainwash me. Put me through many tests. Making sure my memory would be wiped. As soon as they did that, they sent me on missions. I was out in the world of remnant as the woman you have seen fight with you for the very first time. But the only difference was that I didn't care who I killed. I killed many people. Even children." Both shuddered at her last sentence before she continued. "It wasn't until the end of the first month when I was assigned a new target in Mistral." Jaune knew where she was going with this story. "That was when I… took him out. In his sleep." Her breath hitched a bit at this part and Jaune leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him with confusion for a moment before he nodded at her. "After that night, I began to come back to my senses and when I was back at my cell, I managed to break out and escape." When she finished her story, she noticed that Jaune leaned back a bit and was now looking at her.

"Wait." He said and she looked directly at him. "How did you escape? How did you remember all that happened before you became brainwashed?" She smirked a bit and then looked out into the lively crowd.

"The sessions they held to wipe my memory had to be consecutive. They had to keep putting on the pressure until they knew for sure that I could no longer remember who I was. Unfortunately for Cinder and everyone else. They were busy dealing with other problems to focus on me." She then turned her head to Jaune and smiled. "They were too busy focusing on the one who decided to go on a killing spree, massacre White Fang, steal their Vale informant, and then high-jack their plans on breeching Vale." Jaune physically reeled back at this. "They were so focused on you. That they forgot about applying brainwashing on me. I was even surprised at this when I broke out. I managed to make it to the armory, grabbed my gear that you have seen, and escaped. I found out about you through the lovely intelligence expert that worked at that demented building they called a castle. I found a few files on their new plans, and I escaped. But not before seeing what made me into me. Pits of black that made grim." She chuckled a bit as she finished up telling her story and saw that the one in front of her now leaning forward a bit. His posture was slouched and his arms were resting on his kneecaps. His head was arched down a bit and he looked as if he was deep in thought.

"Why do you think I found you in the first place? If I wanted to get any chance at killing the ones responsible for what I am, I needed you to help me. I thought that maybe you weren't just a psychopath that killed for the hell of it." She paused for a second as her neutral expression turned into a frown. "That's until I heard you say your plan to start a shooting here." She gestured to the festival. "That's when I realized you were just a petty killer that was gifted with a power that went to your head." She saw that he hadn't moved an inch from his contemplating position.

"I don't expect you to believe me." She said and once more looked out into the crowd as she folded her arms. "I mean how could you know how that feels? To be ripped apart from the inside? To have your aura tainted so that it may give you strength but yet feel so fragile?" Despite the noise of celebration echoing throughout the area, a silence hung above the two and just before Amelie stood up to leave her soon to be former partner, he broke the silence.

"It feels like every particle in your body is slowly being pulled apart piece by piece." She looked to see that he hadn't moved from his position. "It feels like every imaginable pain that could be thought of, condensed into one ball and thrusted inside of you, only for it to spread everywhere." She was about say something until he interrupted her. "I do know how it feels. How do you think my aura became the way it was?" It was her turn to go wide eyed behind her mask. "The only difference is that while you were injected with a small amount. I fell head first into one of those pits." The silence returned and he then got up from his seat. He made his way to her and stopped at her side.

"I didn't choose to be this way. I didn't want to be like this in all of my life until I was kicked into one of those things. And mind you when I say I do not kill for my enjoyment. Do I feel anything when I kill? No. I'm numb to that feeling. But I refuse to kill ones that don't deserve it. Now use them to create a diversion? Or to create chaos? That I will do. While I did kill at the Breech, the majority of the casualties were white fang stuck in the tunnels. The only ones that were truly hurt were a few Beacon students. As intended." He then turned his head to see that she was looking at him with a shocked expression. "When I said, I would shoot up the fairgrounds, I never said kill. These people deserve a shot at life. They deserve a chance to be happy." She then felt his presence darken. "However, I plan to make the people that decide to hurt others, the ones that hurt me, and the ones that stand in my way." He grew silent but she could feel his anger rising.

"I plan to make them suffer before I end them. Just like how you want to make Cinder and her group pay. I'm not saying that what we're doing is right, in fact what we are doing is awful in most eyes. We're killers. It's what we do. So, from one killer to another, I want to apologize for what I said to you earlier." He then offered his hand for her to shake. "I hope you can forgive me." She sat there for a few moments until he felt her hand grab his. He was then yanked forward and pulled into a tight hug. His body tensed and flared for a few moments at the sudden interaction. He had no idea what he said actually had that strong of an impact on her. As he felt her embrace he realized that he had forgotten what a hug felt like. If he could describe it in one word, it would be 'warm'. She then broke off from the hug and looked at him with a gentle smirk. He could see some tears leak through her mask and the stains were smearing the white makeup with her blue skin, making a somewhat turquoise color.

"We ARE partners after all." She said and Jaune chuckled a bit as he looked at her. Here was a woman in front of him that had lost almost everything. She went through almost exactly what he had been through and without him knowing it, he had helped her and in a sense. He saved her. Even if he killed without remorse, he felt that feeling he believed in back then before he turned into who he was. That feeling of doing something right.

That feeling quickly passed as they both heard some static come from their earpieces.

"Uh guys, I kinda need your help now?" They heard Sombra say and they both were now snapped out of their emotional conversation.

"What happened." Jaune said with a hint of dread. Somehow knowing that Sombra would get caught.

 **With Sombra, Ten minutes earlier:**

*SNAP*

The body of a guard fell to the floor as Sombra went forward into the main hall of Beacon Academy. She was dressed in a combination of neon green and pink along with the black outfit to go along with it. Her mask of sorts was actually neon paint that glowed and came as both a disguise and a creative mask. She rushed forward past the main receptionist area and used her cloaking device to make her way past the faculty. As she approached the elevator door, it opened for her to see Ozpin starring right at her. Her was thrown off for a millisecond before realizing that she was still cloaked. He was looking in her direction though and before he could say anything she threw her translocator into the elevator before the doors shut. She felt the urge to vomit just for a second as the sudden adrenaline from meeting the headmaster wore off. The doors soon opened and she was now looking around the spacious office.

"Man, this place is huge. And a little too much on the clock theme." She joked to no one as she made her way to the computer. She sat down in his chair and began to work her magic. Some may have called it weird, but to her, a semblance that allows one to connect with anything synthetic was a gift. She bypassed firewall after firewall and almost ran into a few security alerts, but her constant vigilance and caution when it came to hacking set in and she finally did it. She accessed Headmaster Ozpin's personal files. As badly as she wanted to see the precious information, she had to save that for later. She began to download the files into her synthetic system and noticed that it was moving at a moderately slow speed. Just to be safe she tossed another translocator by the elevator. She then noticed that the elevator was now moving up to the top floor. Panic soon began to set in. The files were almost complete and all she had to do was wait a few more seconds. She returned to her cloaked form as the doors opened to show Ozpin making his way to his desk with a fresh mug of coffee in his hands. She noticed that the files were complete and she teleported across the room and barley made it back into the elevator.

As she descended, she smiled to know that she did it. All those months of failed planning all now put to good use. The funniest thing was that she didn't even need Reaper's help. She shrugged at this. All that mattered was that she had what she wanted. She cloaked herself once more and waited for the elevator doors to open. When they opened, she took two steps out until she realized that there what seemed to be Beacon students having their weapons trained on her. She luckily dove out of the way when the four students opened fire on the elevator and she scrambled around them, only for her cloaking device to wear off.

"There!" she heard one of the students say. "Ozpin was right Ren!" the others took aim at her and began to lay waste with their dust rounds. Sombra quickly dove out of the way once more and beelined it to the exit. She made out of Ozpin's tower and began making her way to the fairgrounds until a few explosions erupted in front of her. She looked behind to see the orange haired girl armed with a grenade launcher and before she knew it she was surrounded by the other three.

'Okay.' She thought as they were closing in. 'maaayyybe I do need their help.'

 **With Jaune, Present time:**

"Tch. We'll be right there." Jaune said as the two were making their way out of the courtyard. Until a bright spotlight shined on him. He looked to see the stage where the entertainment was and now all eyes were on him.

"We have taken your votes people! And the polls are in! The winner of this year's costume contest is the one and only Pumpkin Monster! There he is!" He heard the booming voice of Professor Port echo around the fairgrounds.

'Really? Now of all times? You have to be kidding me!' Jaune mentally screamed. He had no idea that while he and Amelie were having their conversation that the crowd was partaking in a costume contest. He made a mental note to blame this on Sombra when they got back. The cheers were all around him and he was being guided by the crowd to come up on the stage. He looked to Amelie and nodded at her to go. She nodded back and headed her way to Sombra's location. He was basically shoved up to the front podium as he was now in front of both Port and Oobleck that were letting the crowd applause at him.

"Congratulations young man." Port said and slapped him on the back. Jaune stumbled a bit, but steadied himself as he looked through the sea of people.

"Guys! I kinda needed help five minutes ago! I need either your powers back Jaune, or the biggest distraction you can make!" Sombra basically shrieked into his earpiece he winced but his eyes widened a bit. They needed a distraction. Something that would get everyone's attention off them. Something that would shake this place to its core.

"Please. If you so kindly would let the crowd know who their winner for this year is?" Oobleck then handed him the mic and Jaune smirked.

After all, what's a bigger distraction then coming back from the dead?

the blonde let out a breath before reaching for his mask. He lifted it over his head and laid his eyes onto the crowd. Some were confused while others still were celebrating. The two professors at his sides though were dumbstruck. Port's eyes bulged and Oobleck's glasses fell off his face as the two looked at the blonde in front of him. The same blonde they once called their student. He grinned at both of them and leaned into the mic to say two words that would shake not only the festival, but the world.

"Jaune Arc."

 **OOOHHH Man. The true reveal to the public. Also, widow backstory. Also the need for more Sombra. Also…. Cliffhanger. AAAAAGGGGHHH! So this one was definitely the most puzzling one to write. I didn't want to completely rush things, but I need to give motivation to the characters and shed some light on the shady areas of this story. It was REAAAALLY difficult to maintain Widowmakers usual persona but I wanted to show that despite everything that she had done, and just like Jaune, that she is only human. I hope you all enjoyed it. Now to discuss something I have read in the comments.**

 **This will be disappointing for some of you, but for the time being I am not using any more overwatch characters. I was once told that too many ingredients create's a recipe for disaster. Throwing in too many characters will be chaotic and making them interact at the time being would throw off the pacing that I had in mind. BUT! That may change much later. Also this isn't the only crossover I intend on making. I have another in the works with many more characters but this fic is top priority at the moment.**

 **Anyways. Now that that's over with, I want to thank SunwukongMogar once more for helping me with this, drop a comment or a review and as always beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	16. Chapter 16

**HELLO AGAIN EVERYONE! SparkyDapperDab19 here with another chapter. I want to go on a short author note right now, but considering that this is a long chapter already, I will save it for the end. Anyways I don't own RWBY or Overwatch, those belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. Enjoy you beautiful people!**

Chapter sixteen

The storm of anger and the hints of humanity

 **With Alexander Arc, 5 minutes before reveal:**

 _"_ _I can't believe this." Alexander said to his wife who was at his side as they walked through the festival. The crowd was migrating to the main courtyard for the annual costume contest and the couple decided that they should at least enjoy the festivities._

 _"_ _Alex, you know I worry when you get like this." Maria said and her husband gave her a confused look. "You become tense and short fused when you think something doesn't go as planned. I understand how you feel honey, I do. But let's at least enjoy the night before we go back home tomorrow." The two began to walk in silence until Maria saw her husband run his hand down his face in frustration._

 _"_ _Have I always been like this?" he said jokingly and she giggled at his monotone, but humorous question._

 _"_ _No. Not always. But it became frequent when…" Alex noticed Maria went silent and he saw that she was now radiating remorse. He mentally kicked himself for unintentionally bringing up his son._

 _Things… were not well for their family at the moment. Not only were they mourning the loss of their only son, but were now dealing with oppression on both Schnee and Faunus sides. The Schnees using this opportunity of the Arcs despair to exploit their dust mines and the faunus communities were coming to their home in droves, yelling and threatening the family to do something to fix the problems. The problem was that even if Alexander started working on fixing what happened, it would take months, years perhaps to repair the damage Jacque Schnee had caused for the dust industry. To top it all off, some killer was making a name for himself and he had to deal with frantic daughters screaming from seeing the mutilated corpse of Adam Taurus. Alexander had met the bull faunus a while ago, before the White Fang became violent. Adam didn't deserve that death. Even if he did turn into a terrorist, he deserved to at least die on the battlefield or by the death penalty. Not as some sick message. In spite of this he received word from his old friend Ghira, that although there wouldn't be a direct head of command in the Vale branch, Sienna Khan. The leader of the White fang would oversee the operations in Vale and try to boost some morale among their troops._

 _Alexander sighed as he wrapped his arm around his wife and pulled her in close to his side. "I know things are difficult. But nothing is ever easy. You and I both know that we have to work our hardest to be happy. And know that I will always be here to help you." He looked at Maria and noticed tears were prevalent._

 _"_ _I miss him so much Alex." She said while trying not to sound as if she was beginning to cry. He nodded his head at this and looked forward._

 _"_ _I do too. But you know, he wouldn't want to see his parents like this. He was your right hand in making sure the family was in order. He wouldn't want you to be like this." She then smiled for a few moments, remembering her and her little boy nagging over his younger sisters and how he helped them get ready for school. The small but sweet memories began to pull at her heart. She then looked up to see her husband who still was looking forward but having a reassuring smile on his face._

 _"_ _I know. But… why did it have to be him? He was the sweetest boy. He never deserved to die like that." As she said this, Alex gave her a tight squeeze while in his embrace._

 _"_ _He died protecting the ones he cared about. An end worthy of an Arc. But it was too soon. Far too soon. He should have to be the one to bury me when I pass away. Not the other way around. Now c'mon." he said as he entangled is hand with hers. "The contest is starting. We should see who won this year." He said and she nodded at him. A small but noticeable smile formrd on her face and it only grew when she felt his lips peck her cheek._

 _They arrived to the main courtyard to see it bustling with an intense amount of energy. People shouting and celebrating with joy as the music blared from the stereos. Everyone dressed in character brought smiles to the two that just arrived. Alexander noticed that some of his old classmates such as Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck hosting the celebration and he smiled at the scene. The two Arcs continued to looked around and waited for the contest to begin and Alexander felt a tug at his sleeve. It was his wife pointing in a direction. He looked up to see a couple with impressive costumes sitting down at the corner of courtyard. It appeared the pumpkin themed man did something well because moments later, he was pulled into a hug by the woman sitting down._

 _"_ _They look so cute together." Maria said and he nodded. "The pumpkin man is definitely going to win." She followed up and he chuckled at this. For some reason, whenever she had that look of determination and pride in her eyes. that same look she was aiming at the man a few yards away, she was usually right. It was something he had learned very quickly in the start of their relationship._

 _"_ _Oh! Oh! I should record the contest! Violet would love to see the costumes. You know how she is with her clothes." Alexander shuddered at this. oh yes, he knew. He knew the ridiculously high charges on his account all on clothes and her outbursts when he accidently ruined them in the laundry. "Actually Alex, can you do it? Short wife and all." he smiled at her adorable pout and he took her scroll and began recording. The contest was beginning._

 **Present time:**

The crowd went still at the two words that echoed over the entire fairgrounds. Alexander and Maria's blood went cold when they saw the man on the stage eyeing them all. his grip on the scroll tightening along with his heart. In front of them all, was Jaune Arc.

His dead son.

He looked down to see Maria with her hands clasped over her mouth. The upwards jerking of her shoulders indicating that she was resisting the urge to break down at the sight in front of them. He was doing his damndest not to break down as well or charge forward. Not when Maria needed him now more than ever. He saw his son scanning the crowd while keeping a smug look on his face, seeming to be satisfied with the reaction.

"I suppose that I have a lot of explaining to do." Jaune said as he slowly paced across the stage. "But first, I want to tell you all a short story I was told when I was a kid. A story of knights." Alex's fists clenched as he heard the familiar voice of his son seep into his ears. Jaune continued after a short pause. "There are three types of knights in the world. The first on is the white knight. The one that valiantly rides into battle without hesitation and is one for the people. One that will fight for them and for what is right in the world. They fight for the good of mankind and help anyone they can. No matter who they are or where they came from. White knights such as Alexander Arc and the supporters of equal rights for faunus." Alexander tensed a bit when Jaune made eye contact with him. Besides his casual look, his son's eyes had a hint of what seemed to be sorrow. He saw his son draw a short breath before going on.

"The second knight is the black knight. The ones who had been led astray of the path to chivalry. Tempted by the temporary pleasures of life. They seek overzealous glory that corrupts them and lets the power creep into their minds. They seek pleasure in hurting others and use the guise of justice to do what they want. Black knights such as Adam Taurus and the rest of the White Fang." Alexander was beginning to be surprised that no one was saying anything in protest to his son's speech. Were his words that powerful to turn an entire raving crowd silent? It was true that the Jaune's death went viral after a few days so them all being shocked that he was now standing before them was understandable.

"And the third knight is the dark knight." Alex soon felt a hand wrap around his and he looked to see Maria a little more composed than she was before. "Consider that one a mixture of the first two. One that will accept the pleasures and good things in life. Someone that would care about only themselves, but would know when something was right or wrong in the world. They know they're not accepted in society and are okay with that. they believe that if they do well to themselves and to others, then that's all that matters. Dark knights like the huntsmen that claim to help others from grim but mostly look out for themselves." Both Arcs were now shaking as the story came to the conclusion. This was a story that they had told their son many times when he was growing up. The one thing they both remembered was cementing in his brain that he should never become the second knight and to always strive to be the best he could be. They noticed the crowd was stirring and before anyone could say anything, Jaune put his hand up to the crowd, silencing them.

"The reason I say this is that in the past few months that I have been away, I realized that I was none of these three." Alexander noticed that Jaune saw the confusion among the crowd and he grinned a bit at them. "See, I discovered I was the fourth knight. A knight that gave it his all. A knight that tried his hardest to be the best he could be. Not for himself or for others, but for the world as a whole." The Arcs noticed that their son seemed to be moving a bit uncomfortably in his steps. As if he was in some sort of pain. And did his aura always seem so… misty?

"But despite that passion to help the world. To be a hero he always dreamed of being, he was ridiculed, beaten every day for just existing and pushed to the edge of his sanity until he was finally betrayed by the ones he swore to help and protect. Leaving the knight," He then pressed a thumb to his chest indicating that he was talking about himself. "This knight, broken. And when someone finds that broken knight and takes off his helmet. They only see one thing." He grinned manically when he said this and frightened the audience including Alexander and Maria when he snapped his eyes open, showing them the crimson irises that took the place of his blue ones.

"DEATH!" he said in his demented and raspy voice. Alexander let out a sharp gasp at the sudden change in his son and before he could do anything, before anyone cold scream, Jaune's aura exploded outwards into the crowd. Black smoke covering the entire courtyard. Coughs and fits of screaming could be heard until it went quiet once more due to the twisted laughing that emerged through the blinding smoke.

"And death walks among you."

The gunshots that followed caused widespread pandemonium and people rushed to escape the area. Alexander readied his shield that covered him and his wife and braced for impact. He grew confused as he kept hearing the gunfire but no impact. From the frantic shooting and by how fast the guns were going off, he'd expect a stray shot to hit them but it never came. The smoke died down and Alexander darted his head in all directions to see that his son wasn't aiming at the people. Only the decorations and kiosks.

"Alex! Look!" Maria shouted over the pandemonium. He looked in the direction that she q=was pointing and saw a cluster of smoke, beelining it through the panicked crowd. That was when the Arc realized that this wasn't a massacre, it was a distraction.

"We need to follow him." He said as he readied his sword. Maria simply nodded and unsheathed her daggers. The married couple soon took after the smoke trail, both hoping that what they had just witnessed was some twisted nightmare.

 **With Sombra:**

The hacker smirked at the students, all stunned at the speech that Jaune said over the stereos and intercoms throughout the fairgrounds. She had to admit, he did know how to get a message across. The only problem was that the four huntresses and huntsman turned into seven halfway through Jaune's speech. when the new students arrived, she noticed was that the two groups did NOT like each other, she didn't need an emotion reading semblance to know that the four original students were not happy to see the other three. She tried to escape a few times only to be blocked off by one of the them on each attempt. Now that Jaune finished up what he said, following up with a cacophony of gunfire, it caused each of them to be on some level of distraught and this seemed to be a perfect chance to make an escape. However it would have to take some sweet talking.

"Ayyy looks like Reaps finally showed everyone what he could do. Good for him." She said while twirling her SMG and noticed the Spartan looking at her with a questioning look.

"You know him?" She basically growled and Sombra rolled her eyes.

"I mean, who else could post that picture across EVERY scroll connected to the CCTs not too long ago. I simply posted it. He did the dirty work. Gotta admit, he's got taste when he wants to send a message." She was enjoying this now because she saw that after she said that, one of the girls became noticeably pissed off. Considering the violent twitching of her bow, she assumed it was that Blake person that Jaune mentioned not too long ago. "What's wrong kitty?" she then said as she looked at the one slowly shaking in anger. "Mad that your crazy boyfriend became the poster boy for bad omens? That's right amiga, I did my research on you." This remark seemed to make the faunus snap and she was about to charge forward until three shots were fired at her feet. Sombra looked up in the direction where the shots came from and saw Widowmaker had fired mid-air and was approaching the group after landing with her sights darting to each person.

"Nice entrance arana." Sombra said and Widowmaker simply nodded while aiming her rifle at them. she then turned towards Blake and quirked an eyebrow. "Honestly girl, you should be thanking him. Reaps got him out of the picture. And put him in another." She snickered at her little play on words and saw that Blake was gritting her teeth. "Seriously what did you see in that prick anyway?"

"He didn't deserve that! Yes he was violent but no one deserves to be slaughtered like that! No one does!" Blake screamed. Everyone was now looking at her with either shock or confusion and the silence was cut by Sombra laughing.

"HAHAHAHA! Oooooh man that is too good." She said while acting as if she was wiping away a tear. Hate to say this kitty, but aren't you forgetting that a few certain someone's attempted to do the same thing a few months ago? Pots really calling the kettle black at this point." The shock was now directed at the hacker as she had a satisfied smirk on her face.

"That was differ-" Blake was interrupted when the same smoke that flooded the fairgrounds made its way all to the group that was at a stand-off against each other. Most were coughing at the sudden choking atmosphere while Widowmaker and Sombra remained still. When they recovered, they all saw that the unwelcoming but familiar presence of death among them. They turned in Blake's direction to see that a foreboding figure standing before Blake with his arms folded. The outfit was different considering he had a pumpkin for a head, but the smoke and familiar persona were the same.

 **With Jaune Arc:**

"Oh, please do go on." Jaune growled and he noticed that everyone who wasn't his current team felt a jolt of fear go through all of them. The sarcasm mixed with malice in his voice created a feeling that this was not going to end well for them. Just as he planned.

"You slaughtered him like an animal." She growled. His arms remained folded. Silence was heard for a few moments until they heard him struggling to stifle something.

That something was laughter.

After he calmed down and took a short step back and cocked his head a bit while his arms remained folded, indicating that he found her remark amusing. "Personally, I find it fitting for him." Blake attempted to ready her blade as soon as he said this and Jaune invaded her personal space, tightly pinning her arm over her shoulder so she couldn't move. Yang and Weiss were about to intervene until they felt Sombra's and Widowmaker's weapons focus on them. The rest refused to move, as if they were frozen in place by Jaune's presence. He then grinned behind his mask, deciding that maybe this would be a good time to play with her a bit. "Honestly I was doing you a favor. He was a whiny little bitch to the very end. And let me give you tell you something. The reason he was angry all the time was due to his tiny pecker." A 'pfft' noise could be heard from Sombra and Blake's eyes hardened on him. "Honestly why do you think he dramatically swung his sword around? I just hope he didn't shoot faster than his sheath." Jaune could feel Blake attempting to resist, he still had one last thing to truly hurt her. He then leaned forward to one of her ears and began whispering. "You should've heard him choking on his own blood as he tried to get the horns out of his eyes. Reminded me of the time you almost chocked me to death." Blake's struggling ceased when she heard this and her ears flattened as she growled at him.

"There was good reason why we did what we did." She said as she struggled to break free, but to no avail. He tilted his head for her to go on, but Yang beat her partner to it.

"Because you fucking snapped!" The brawler screamed and showed him the scar that he gave her. The others went wide eyed at the ugliness that decorated her skin. He simply gave her a blank stare. Seeming to be unsatisfied with her answer, he quickly released his grip on Blake, she took a step back and was about to retaliate until they saw the smoke gathering around at his feet.

"And who were the ones that caused me to snap?" He retorted, he then turned completely to Yang who felt more and more intimidated with each second his attention was on her. "Who were the ones that day in and day out constantly forced me to think that I was lower than garbage? Who were the ones that planned to get me to leave Beacon? And tell me. Who were the ones that bribed and paid half the school to torment me? Along with harassing my team at the time?" Yang gasped a bit at the barrage of questions. Especially the last one. How the hell did he find out about that?

Jaune looked at his former friends and teammates to see a menagerie of negative emotions swirling into one, but the foundation amongst all of those emotions was confusion. "Really?" he questioned annoyingly as he looked at WBY. "I have to tell them everything?" He sighed a bit at this and turned to RPNR. "It was the night after I nearly killed that asshole that put his hands on Pyrrha." He started and the students flinched, remembering how that day transpired. Widowmaker and Sombra simply hung back at this confrontation, but both seemed to still be intrigued at his developing story. "Turns out that it was staged. The guys were paid. Along with most of the student body to make my life hell. And guess who had the funds to make that plan work. All eyes of RPNR focused intensely on the heiress, but soon refocused back on Jaune. "After Ozpin cleared me from punishment, I decided to see if Ruby was at her room so I could apologize to her. That's when I heard them talking. Apparently, they were so sure that I would break down and just leave when I saw my team being hurt. Thinking that if I left, I would be saving them the strife of being bullied. They didn't expect me to start snapping back though. We all saw what I did that day. And I don't regret a moment of it." He finished and Sombra was the first to response with a slow whistle.

"So, in an attempt to fix their mistake, they created a bigger mistake." Sombra said and Jaune nodded. Widowmaker was a little confused at first but then realized that Sombra most likely already knew what happened to him. Widowmaker noticed though that his explanation earned an irritated but rising growl from the blonde brawler, who just about had enough of him.

"You never belonged here!" She screamed. "You never deserved to be here! We worked our whole lives to get to where we were and you decide you could just get a free ride?! You were going to get yourself, your team, and my sister killed! You never deserved to be a huntsman you fucking psychopath!" She roared as her semblance ignited and she launched at him. She was inches away from landing a solid hit on the blonde reaper until she felt a tight grip strike around her neck. He was now holding her by one hand as she dangled off the ground.

"For once in your life you may be right about that." He growled as his grip tightened. Noises of strangulation were coming from the brawler as she tried to break free from his grasp. "But that never gave you the right to decide my fate and my choices. That never gave any of you the right to deliberately force me to suffer." He threw her back a few feet and before anyone could react he pulled out two pumpkin themed shotguns. Apparently, his aura reacted to his physical appearance and stayed consistent to his current theme. He quickly shrugged at this and aimed his guns at Yang and Blake. "And I have to correct you Yang. I'm not a psychopath." They all heard the familiar noise of his weapons cocking. "I'm a high-functioning psychopath." He then began to lay waste to the two that he aimed at. A relentless stream of high impact, aura piercing pellets were hurled at the two so fast, the dust began to pick up along with Jaune's smoke. Creating a smoke screen. Jaune grew confused though as he noticed that he wasn't hearing the familiar noises of the rounds tearing into aura and flesh, but sounds of the rounds being reflected off something metallic. Like a shield.

He lowered his weapons and eyed the two areas he fired at. The smoke cleared and everyone noticed that instead of seeing Yang and Blake, they saw two shields blocking them. Jaune growled a bit at this and his two teammates were about to open fire until he put his hand up and shook his head. They all noticed that the shields were decorated in a familiar insignia. The same one the reaper in front of them used to dawn.

The two soon stood up from their defensive stances and eyed the shotgun wielding murderer in front of them. The man who saved Yang collapsed his shield and simply stared at Jaune while the woman was doing the same, but the difference was that the woman looked to have been more distraught. Jaune looked at them both and let out a sigh.

"Hey Mom. Hey Dad." He said and now everyone was a little shocked to see this. The students did see his parents for a few moments at his funeral, but they had never truly seen them up close. The blonde man now standing upright. His cloak was discarded and he now showed his armored frame that went to his waist. His sword hung at his waist and a look of neutrality could be shown. His mother on the other hand pulled her shield apart into two halves and they shifted to two large daggers before she sheathed them. They could see that she was resisting the urge to break down at the sight of him.

"Son." Alexander started in a shaky voice. "H-how are you like this?" Jaune folded his arms as he looked at his father.

"Falling head first in a pool that spawns grim kind of alters your aura in a drastic way." Jaune said almost sarcastically. Apparently Jaune's mother did not take that well.

"JAUNE MILES ARC!" She started with fury in her voice, throwing everyone off. "YOU HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO ON WHY YOU ARE LIKE THIS!" Jaune flinched a bit at her anger but soon smirked.

"Mom, I'm sorry but I don't have all night. I would love to stick around, but we got what we came here for and I think it's time for us to go." He then gestured to his team to leave until he saw that a bright flash of light was coming from both the Arcs. That rare feeling of fear seeped through him. He had heard stories of his parents dominating the battlefield by utilizing their auras together and to the fullest of their abilities, making sure that nothing was standing after the battle. But he did know that if he stalled them for a few moments, he could find a surefire way of escaping their wrath, he needed something to truly shake the two in front of him. His hands balled into fists as he looked down. Anger was now noticeable on him.

He had an idea, but he really didn't want to do it.

"I won't explain what happened." he firmly stated and this seemed to only amplify their aura, he gritted his teeth at what he was going to do next. "Instead I'll show you." He said as he removed the pumpkin head and the Arcs, along with the rest of them instantly ceased all movement as he showed them his true face.

Instead of the familiar face that his parents saw when he was at the stage, they saw that half his face was dissolving and the muscles in his cheek were becoming visible, one of his eyes drooped a bit as well and before they could realize it, his cells instantly reformed for a few moments until this time they could see his entire skull, the only detail that truly stood out was his piercing red eyes. The red eyes that stabbed into all of their souls and wreaked havoc on their emotions. The only ones a little less phased by this were Widowmaker, Sombra, and Pyrrha who had seen it once before. But with his parent's aura illuminating the area around them, they all witnessed the true horror that Jaune Arc succumbed to.

Maria Arc was the first to disengage her aura and she fell to her knees. She didn't make a noise at the sight in front of her. Alexander simply witnessed the two now starring at each other and his heart cracked. He loved his son but he knew that Maria had a stronger relationship with him. And to see that sweet, adorable boy that she loved so much turned into…this.

It just may have broken her.

Before anyone could process what was happening, Jaune slowly made his way to the collapsed woman and was now inches away from her. His smoke kept swirling around his face, still degenerating and regenerating as he crouched before her. She was about to say something until he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in a tight hug. She was shocked to feel that despite the malicious aura and the horrifying appearance, he felt warm.

"I'm sorry." He said while struggling to sound like he used to. She wrapped her arms around him and made a tearful smile. She was about to tell him that it was okay. That she was there now like she always told him when he was a boy, and was happy he was alive. Those thoughts shattered as she felt the warmth soon disappear and she saw that he was dissolving right in front of her. His smoke swirled at her knees for a few moments before instantly darting its way to his two teammates. The upper half of his body materialized and he grabbed both of them. With a strained yell, he mustered all the strength he could gather and launched off into the slowly emerging sunrise. Leaving the students and his parents behind.

A few moments passed as the sun slowly dawned on all of them. The first noise to break the silence though was a broken scream coming from Maria Arc. Alexander was instantly by her side and she clung to him while still bawling her eyes out. Tears were also streaming down his face but instead having a look of despair like his wife, it was something resembling fury. He then looked up and focused on the students who were all dumbstruck at the scene in front of them and said one word that shook them all to their cores.

"EXPLAIN."

 **With Jaune Arc, Widowmaker, and Sombra:**

"HOLY SHIT WE MADE IT!" Sombra exclaimed as she entered the safe house and rushed to her monitors, giggling as she began to upload the data she stole from Ozpin. Jaune and Amelie entered after her and the sniper removed her mask and set her rifle to the side of her bed.

"I will admit that there were some close calls. But we did make it." She smirked at the giddy hacker and looked at her partner. She noticed the entire way back he hadn't said a word to either of them and this was worrying her. She put a hand on his shoulder and he turned to show her that his tears mixing in with his dissolving cells caused a dark blur beneath his eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked with genuine concern. What he had to do back there could not have been easy for him. He was basically telling the one person he loved the most, the one person that was always there for him growing up, taking care of him, and doing her best to raise him into a young man that he was no longer the son she loved. When she snapped out of her short train of thought though, she noticed that his red eyes hadn't broke eye contact with hers.

"I don't think so." He muttered as he put one hand against his face. She instantly pulled him into a gentle hug and she heard a slight gasp from him. She was about to say something until Sombra interrupted them.

"Guys I know that this is a tender moment and all." She turned to them with wide eyes and a distraught look. "But you need to see this." The two of them broke away from the hug and they went to the monitors to see what she was talking about. Jaune was the only one to respond to what they were saw.

"No way."

 **CLIFFHANGERS! WHYYYYYY?! Because I'm evil like that MWAHAHAHA! Alright back to serious mode. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I apologize for being so late. Weekend jobs and power outages do not mix well together and I wanted to make this chapter as enjoyable as can be. It took a lot of re writing but I hope you all liked it. And to the ones who commented about Blake's hypocrisy, that little roast on her was for all of you ;). Also I got a little teary when I wrote the scene between Jaune and his mom. That by far was the most emotionally difficult thing I wrote. Anyways on another note I would like to say special thanks to SunwukongMogar for giving his input and editing in this story as my beta, drop a comment or a review to tell me what you thought and as always beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	17. Chapter 17

**HELLO AGAIN BEAUTIES! SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 HERE! And here once again with another chapter. I got a few things to say but I will save them for the end of the chapter. Anyways special thanks to SunwukongMogar for helping me with this chapter and like always I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard**

 **ENJOY!**

Chapter seventeen

Declarations, and breaking bonds.

"So, you mean to tell me, that even though my son saved a student from an Ursa. After proving that he could be a huntsman despite his false transcripts. You all tormented him until he snapped. Then you three attempted to kill him and in turn, made him the way he is today." He said to everyone in Ozpin's office, recalling the story Pyrrha Nikos told him. The spartan's team in one corner of the room while the other three were in the opposite corner, both glaring daggers at one another. Ozpin, Glynda, Qrow, and Ironwood were all present at the moment also. How could they not when they all discovered that a man who was presumed dead crashed and started a shooting at the festival?

Pyrrha explained what happened only a few moments after everyone settled into the room. to the two after they all went to the headmaster's office. The Spartan told them everything Jaune told them at the breech and what he had said just before they arrived. She even included that herself and the rest of his team neglected him until he protected them. After she explained every detail she could remember, also including who were the ones responsible for his new transformation, she saw that the two succumbed to silence until Alexander glared at all of them.

"All over some FUCKING TRANSCRIPTS?!" His aura then ignited. His anger and power becoming overwhelming, so much in fact, that it made Yang's semblance seem as if it was a little temper tantrum compared to the unadulterated fury emitting from Alexander. His rage was now directed at WBY and he felt the fear pierce through them all. "YOU PUT HIM THROUGH ALL OF THAT MISERY! YOU PUT OUR ENTIRE FAMILY THROUGH HELL ALL TO PROVE A FUCKING POINT?!" His power seemed to amplify with every word and they soon noticed the ground beneath him began to tremble around him. Before anyone could realize what happened, he turned and slammed his hand on Ozpin's desk, this time shattering the glass and breaking the table in two.

"AND YOU! YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL US, HIS OWN PARENTS THAT HE WAS ALIVE!" Ironwood stepped in and shoved him back a bit to create space. Alexander glared at him and noticed that the general had a conflicted look. Basically, saying that he didn't want to intervene, but needed to. They all stopped in their tracks though when they heard a cracking noise and saw it coming from the headmaster. They noticed that Ozpin was gripping his mug tightly. So much that the porcelain mug began to fracture. He then let out a quick breath.

"Because we knew you would act like this." Ozpin firmly stated. Alexander gritted his teeth at the headmaster and before he could roar anything else, they all began to hear a soft laughter.

"Heheheheheh." They all turned to see that it was coming from Alexander's wife. "I find it hilarious." She said as she stood up. Her brunette hair clouding her face as she slowly walked to the headmaster. "That all this time. The reason you kept it a secret. A secret that my baby boy was alive all this time, was to make sure that Alexander didn't lose it. When in actuality," She showed the headmaster her face and everyone saw that blue flames were dancing in Maria's irises. The ground began to shake at the now two amplifying powers as she kept a tranquil but furious look locked onto Ozpin who was staring at her. "You should have been terrified of what I would do." She looked directly at him and knew, even if Ozpin didn't show it, that he overlooked her potential and it was about to be one of his greatest mistakes.

"Maria." Ozpin started. He got up from his seat and grasped his cane. "We didn't know it was him until recently. We all knew what would happen if you found out who he truly became. And truth be told, I was worried. We all know the Arcs value family over anyone else and to find out that some of my students were responsible for turning your son into what he is now, we knew you two would come in full force." She simply kept her burning eyes trained on him and he decided to continue. "I would have personally told you when we had him detained and in Beacon custody. That ace up my sleeve is the syringe that you see in Ms. Roses hand." The two Arcs looked to see the hooded girl holding the syringe with the red substance being contained. "That contains Ms. Nikos's aura. From what we could tell, her aura stabilizes his aura back to its former state and making him normal once more. From what we could guess it was that she was the one to awaken his aura and used some of hers to get his working." Everyone besides the headmaster and Pyrrha were shocked at this revelation. Jaune didn't even have his aura unlocked and he still chose to sneak in to Beacon?

"The why let him into your school?!" Weiss was the one to shout this and the room once again became tense. "Why let an imbecile who didn't even have aura into a place where people are becoming elite hunters and huntresses?!" sharp glares from everyone were focused on her and Ozpin was the first to speak.

"Because it seems that he was one of the few that truly knew what it meant to be a huntsman." Ozpin said. He then looked at Maria. "Jaune never cared what the student body did to him. Even when he discovered that they were being bribed. The only thing that mattered to him was making sure his team was safe from the ridicule. He took his burden with dignity that few have ever possessed. He knew what it meant to be a leader and that is why I let him into my school. I should have told you two what happened. I know that. I wanted to bring him back here first. To show that he was alright. But as we all know… he isn't" The room grew silent once again and Ozpin saw that Maria was in deep thought. As if she was contemplating what to do next.

"I will give Remnant until after the festival." She said and the others grew confused. "Everyone thinks that they can push around the Arcs and slam our family name into the dirt. The Schnees. The White Fang, the huntsmen and huntresses, I will give them all until the festival is over. Because as soon as it ends, we will come for anyone who has wronged us. The Arcs will be the judge, jury and executioner for everyone that has caused us harm. And I will say this once Ozpin. If you keep trying to get my boy back, then we won't attack Beacon. However, I will not intervene next time if he attacks anyone. Especially them." She said and walked up to the Weiss, Blake, and Yang. She then eyed the heiress and leaned closer into her ear. "And if you EVER insult my son again, he won't be the only one you should worry about trying to kill you." Weiss froze in place as Maria backed away. "You can also tell that cunt Jacque Schnee that were coming for his head. Or don't tell him. I don't care." She then gestured for Alexander to follow her to the elevator. Before the doors closed on them, she looked at them all. "We WILL see that remnant pays for wronging us. For wronging our family and for wronging our son." The elevator doors shut and left Ozpin with a conflicted look. He was the first one to break the silence by letting out a gentle sigh and turning to the students.

"Well with everything that has happened, I believe that you should all get some rest. The tournament is almost at its conclusion and I would urge you all to get some sleep." Ozpin said and RPNR nodded at this. he noticed that all of them were distraught on different levels. He wished they didn't have to deal with all of this. RPNR and WBY all packed into the elevator, but before they could close the doors, Ozpin spoke out once more.

"Actually Ms. Nikos, I would like to have a word with you." He said. Pyrrha and the rest of her team grew confused at this. "Do not worry, she will soon be with you. There is something I simply wish to discuss." Pyrrha looked to Ruby who gave her a nod. She returned the gesture and headed back into the office. Nora gave her a wave as the doors closed once more and the Spartan turned to the headmaster and the others.

"Is this about finding Jaune?" she asked and the headmaster gave her a reassuring smile.

"Yes. It is also about another topic. But first Ms. Nikos, what is your favorite fairy tale?"

 **With Ruby:**

"WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME?!" Yang screamed and the rose stopped in her tracks.

It was an intense ride down the elevator to say the least. Ruby refused to make eye contact with any of her old team while Ren and Nora were glaring daggers at them. as soon as the doors opened, Ruby stormed out while Yang was trying to get her attention. It was only when Yang shrieked while activating her semblance. Ruby simply looked at her unimpressed.

"HE WAS GOING TO GET YOU ALL KILLED! WE WERE DOING YOU ALL A FA-"

*THWACK!*

Yang and the rest of her team were downright shocked to see that Ruby had drawn Crescent Rose and smacked her sister with the flat end of her compact rifle. They saw that Ruby was furious now and just like Jaune's mother, her eyes were now flaring but this time brimming with silver.

"Shut up." Ruby growled and she looked at Yang who was now growing fearful. "Everything that you told me was a lie. You said he died like a hero protecting us, but you hunted him down like an animal and made him into a monster. You claimed that you were doing the right thing but instead you were all hurting someone because you enjoyed it. You are a heartless bitch Yang. Just like your mom." Now everyone went wide eyed at this and tears were beginning to fall from Yang's face. "During our off time after the breech, Uncle Qrow told me that my mom kept journals that mentioned her at our house. Dad sent them to me and I read what she did. What she did to the family and how she left Dad. And I see that you got that selfish, rotten, and evil side from that BITCH!" Ruby now was aiming her rifle at her sister with rage and everyone simply watched this horrifying scene between sisters take place.

"You are NOT my sister." Ruby said and Yang reeled back at this. "You and the others are dead to me. You took away someone I truly cared about. And I will NEVER forgive you." She then spat at Yang's feet and walked off with Nora and Ren. She felt Ren's hand on her shoulder and saw that the two of them giving her a reassuring smile. She looked down at her feet while feeling the three scars on her chest. Her heart clenched as she remembered Jaune. But she smiled, knowing that if it wasn't for him back then, she would have died. And even if he wasn't the Jaune she used to know, she knew that they would get him back somehow and with the new family she had now while leaving the old family that had hurt him.

 **With Jaune:**

He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

He had thought all of those stories about the maidens that his mom had told him were just made up. Fiction. Completely made up. But yet here she was in front of them. a picture of a wounded but alive Fall Maiden. They all saw the schematics layout of the chamber that had the aura transfer device and it shocked them to think that Ozpin would do something so…inhumane. To rip away one's aura and force it on another, Jaune may have been a murderer but this for some odd reason made him sick.

"Hey here's a list of potential candidates." Sombra said and Jaune snapped out of his train of thought. They scrolled through the list with the profile pictures next to them. It wasn't until they reached the top of the list to see the confirmed candidate when Jaune's eyes widened. There in front of him. The top person to take the Fall Maiden's powers was his former partner Pyrrha Nikos.

"That fucking bastard." Jaune growled and his smoke began to swirl violently. He couldn't fathom that this was happening. Not only was a fairy tale real, now Ozpin was going to pressure one of the few people he cared about into inheriting those powers. They saw the details of the machine. They saw that what it could do to the test subjects and this seemed to anger him further. Amelie noticed this and looked at him.

"The girl that you avoided in the Forever Fall?" She asked and Jaune nodded.

"She was his first partner. Awoken his aura. Kinda explains why she can hurt him." Sombra added and the two looked at her with some confusion. "What? Intelligence expert remember?" she said while pointing to her head. This caused the two to mouth 'Oh' and Sombra rolled her eyes. "Well it seems your little friend is going to inherit these powers soon considering that the machine is good to go. Not to mention the last day of the tournament is tomorrow so it seems that we can make a pretty fair assumption on the time limit." Jaune nodded at this and began gearing up for tomorrow. Whether he liked it or not he needed to get down into that chamber and stop that machine. He already lost himself in a sense and he would not let this happen to anyone else.

"Um Jaune?" Sombra said and he looked back at the two that were staring at the new data. "There's more. I found two bugs in his system. One that's connected to the CCT and in turn to Atlas and another from an unknown location." Jaune looked up at the screens to see the two bugs and he grinned at one of them.

"Don't worry about that one." He said and he pointed to the top code. "That was me back during the Vytal dance. Consider it a failsafe for the Atlas drones if things get out of control." He then looked at the other code and grew a bit confused. "The other one though I don't remember putting in. Can you see who's it from?" his only reply was a look from Sombra that said 'Seriously?'

"Hacker remember?" she said and she fired away at her keyboard and started breaching into the unknown servers that somehow got their way into Ozpin's files. It took a few minutes but she made into the private servers and the only icon that appeared was a black queen chess piece. The three looked at each other with some confusion until Sombra clicked on it. That was then the three of them went wide eyed at the info streaming down.

"Did we just…" Amelie started, but for some reason couldn't finish her sentence.

"Find Cinder's plans?" Jaune finished as they all saw the careful planning of an attack on Vale. They saw documents from the White Fang, areas where grim could truly cause damage, and countless receipts of funding and dust to make this operation a success. One thing that stood out though was the two profiles of Pyrrha Nikos and another girl Jaune had never seen before but saw her name was Penny Polendina. The word "Catalyst" was labeled underneath the two and Jaune grew concerned at this.

"Guys. This is a full out invasion. Not like the breech." Sombra said and Jaune looked down at her. He saw her for the first time, truly shocked at what they discovered. I mean how were they supposed to react? This would be a war in the making. But this time, beginning with a massacre of truly innocent people.

"Well then." Jaune said as he turned once more to his gear. "I think we know what we need to do." He then looked at the two and saw their concern. He looked down at his feet and saw the smoke circling around him once more. "Kinda hypocritical I know. A murderer wanting to stop an invasion. But these people." He stopped for a second until his hands clenched. "They don't deserve that. They don't deserve to be killed while being afraid. They don't deserve to have destiny befall on them all in the shape of death. And I will do what I can to stop it. Even if it means killing a lot of evil to make it happen."

Amelie looked at him for a few moments and saw that he was now looking at the picture of Pyrrha. She let out a little sigh and smiled at him. "Well then it seems that we have a new mission. Sombra. What about you?" she looked to see that the hacker was looking at the two with an amused smile.

"You kidding me?" she asked with excitement. "I haven't had this much fun in a long time. I'm in." Jaune looked at the two and smiled.

"Well then." He said as he used his aura to materialize his signature mask. "Let's get started."

 **OOOOOHHHH SHIIIIIT! Things are going down once again. And I am relieved to say that this didn't end on a cliffhanger. That was mean of me last chapter I know. Anyway thanks for reading this and I hope you are all liking this. Now onto something that has been troubling me. I have seen some comments on how Jaune and Amelie are looking pretty good together. Now some may find that great while others not so much. SO! In response to this, SunwukongMogar and I have agreed to post a poll. Whether a potential relationship could happen in the future or not. now this isn't really set in stone because I have that potentially planned WAAAAYYYY later in Arc 3 (SURPRISE!) but I want all of your input on the matter. Anyways leave a comment or a review and as always beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	18. Chapter 18

**As you can tell this isn't a new chapter and I'm sorry to ruin your excitement. If it makes it you all feel better, Reaping with sorrow will be updated with a new chapter tomorrow. Instead, today I just want to say a few things about how today, February 1 affects me. As most of you know, this is the day that the creator of RWBY Monty Oum passed away. I know that a lot of fans mourn this because he gave us such a gift to enjoy, but I just need to say a few things and how this day truly affects me.**

 **First of all, I didn't like RWBY when it first came out. As much as I hate to admit that, I really didn't. It didn't appeal to me and I shrugged it off. My friends tried to get me into it throughout high school and I just refused. Something about the animation seemed to throw me off and it wasn't appealing at all. So, to be honest I didn't start watching RWBY until the third season came out due to a person very close to me forced me to binge the first season with him. And just like before, I didn't really enjoy the first episode.**

 **That is until I saw the adorkable blonde knight that I am currently writing a fanfic about.**

 **Seeing Jaune Arc felt like a breath of fresh air in the traditional character archetypes and every time I saw just this character, I grew more invested into the show. Just through that one character, I grew to love the others just as much and now I can't get enough of RWBY.**

 **But despite my new-found admiration, I felt depressed for the fact that I basically judged Monty Oum's work by first glance and now I couldn't truly thank him for showing us this amazing show because he is no longer with us. I felt that I missed my chance to truly express my gratitude to someone who made me smile and made me look forward to every episode.**

 **That was when I found out that Monty made something else besides RWBY. Back when I was little there were two things I ADORED. One was Halo (Yea. I was a little scrub toddler shooting heads off grunts with a magnum). And the other was Metroid. Then one day, about nine years ago, I saw something that blew me away.**

 **Haloid.**

 **This video of just insane epicness that threw two of my favorite childhood heroes against each other was so intense, that my little mind couldn't handle it. I loved it so much that played it once a day for a few months just to see how this amazing person created such art. And to find out that same person created one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite show right now, it honestly brought god damn tears to my eyes. And it was then that I truly felt at ease, knowing that I unknowingly supported him and was a fan of Monty's work all along.**

 **To sum this up, Monty inspired me. Just like he inspired a lot of you reading this. He basically showed me that there are endless possibilities if you just imagine hard enough and to not be afraid of what work I show to the world. I am skeptical of what comes after life, but if there is a place that we go to after this, one of the first things I'm going to do is thank him for changing my life and showing me such amazing art.**

 **Thank you Monty Oum, I hope wherever you are, that you are at peace.**

 **And to everyone supporting me and reading this, be fierce.**

 **Sparkydapperdab19 signing off.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Everyone, I have a lot of apologizing to do. First on the list is posting a chapter that was just a message. I should have at least followed up with a chapter then or added that on to a chapter. I can promise you all it won't happen again. The next thing I want to apologize for is not posting when I said I would. You all who have supported and enjoyed this story deserve to know I was in the hospital that day and the day after I was in a lot of pain to even think let alone write a good chapter. I am truly sorry for that and I promise to make it up to you all with the next set of chapters I have lined up. I thank you all for your patience these past few days and I hope you all enjoy.**

 **Also I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

Chapter 18

Braving the oncoming storm

 _"_ _HEY! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!" The entire mess hall grew quite at the sudden outburst from Nora Valkyrie as an upper classman decided to spit on top of her pancakes. Pyrrha and Ren were equally shocked by this and Ren was the first to react._

 _"_ _You need to apologize. NOW!" the usually stoic ninja said as grasped the smirking upperclassmen's arm. This only lasted for a few moments though when a much larger student. Someone that was with the first bully, proceeded to grab a wad of Ren's hair and start yanking him around. Even making the effort to slam his head on the table. Nora was about to intervene at this until the one that spat at her pancakes head locked her._

 _"_ _We don't listen to shitheads who listen to their idiot of a leader." The larger one said. This caught everyone off guard and soon realized why this was happening to them. Pyrrha was about to retaliate into a fitful rage until she felt a pair of hands wrap around her waist. She gasped and shuddered a bit at the uneasy and creepily seductive feeling._

 _"_ _Well, Well, look what we have here." She felt a voice say behind her ear. She wanted to gag at how gross the guy sounded. "Seems there is something worthwhile in this pathetic team." Pyrrha wanted to retaliate. She needed to get away from this disgusting situation, but because everything was so sudden, how everything happened so fast, it felt as if her legs were locked in place._

 _She felt the hands slowly rise up and the person's tounge wrap around her earlobe. She looked around to see an audience of silent students looking at her and her team who were now being beaten mercilessly, all too shocked or scared to do anything. Pyrrha looked over to her sister team and saw that the only one to be paying attention was Ruby. The others seemed to look away, denying that this was even taking place. She then closed her eyes and winced as she felt the hands slowly making their way to her breasts._

 _"_ _Tell your partner that he's missing out." He said and she could feel his grin. He was centimeters away now and she was trying to muster up any ounce of strength to get out of this atrocious situation._

 _"_ _Tell it to my face asshole." That familiar voice made the three tormentors stop in their tracks. All eyes widened in shock and horror as they saw a yellow flash slice across the back of the one who was holding Pyrrha and a loud cry could be heard and the other two unnamed bullies dropped Jaune's teammates._

 _"_ _I don't care if you torment me." Jaune said in a low growl and they all looked at him to see his bangs shadowing his eyes. "But you never. EVER. HURT. MY. TEAM!" He looked up at them now and they nearly pissed themselves at the unadulterated fury coming from the Arc. Just at the sight of him they decided to flee and leave their injured companion behind. Jaune eyed the one that was struggling to get up and stomped on his back, causing another grunt of pain._

 _"_ _I'm not done with you." Jaune said with a now neutral tone as he held Crocea Mors with two hands. Pyrrha let out a sharp gasp as she saw him strike down. Blow after blow, he kept slicing into the students back. In everyone's shock, they noticed while his strikes were able to break his aura, they became shallow as he slowly sliced at the skin._

 _He wanted this tormentor to suffer._

 _The screams continued for a few more minutes until Jaune kicked the man over onto his back. The rage never leaving his eyes and he lifted his sword over his head. The blood dripping over them and the strained way Jaune was breathing portrayed him as the embodiment of someone who has had enough of the pain in their life. He was in mid swing, aiming for the student's head when Jaune felt two arms wrap around him._

 _"_ _JAUNE! STOP! PLEASE!" Jaune snapped out of his blood rage and looked behind him to see Ruby holding him back. despite this he still continued to struggle until he felt more weight on his back. this time from Pyrrha._

 _"_ _JAUNE! YOU NEED TO STOP!" He was trying his best now to drown out the shouting from his friends. He needed to do this. he needed to show the school what happens when you push someone too far. He couldn't though due to his team holding him back. he could barely hear their muffled screams in his anger._

 _"_ _JAUNE!"_

 _"_ _JAUNE!"_

 _"_ _JAUNE!"_

"JAUNE!" He winced as he was snapped away from the sudden memory. He noticed that Sombra's tone was somewhat frantic when she shouted for his attention in his earpiece.

"What is it Sombra?" He said and this made her sigh in relief.

"You went dark on us for a bit." What happened? You okay?" She asked and Jaune looked down from his position over the school he once belonged to. To say it brought up bad memories was an understatement.

"Yea I'm fine, what's up?" He replied into his earpiece. It had been an hour since the final rounds of the tournament began and it had been an hour since he was scoping out if anything was unusual considering the plan was to try and stop the invasion from happening. This was the final night for the tournament and they were certain that whatever was happening, it was happening tonight. The problem was that they had no idea how this was going to begin. All they knew was that Pyrrha and this Penny girl were involved. So, in preparation for this, the three decided to split up and overlook the three areas that were most likely areas of attack. Sombra chose to scout out all of Vale, Amelie volunteered to scope out the colosseum, and that left him to see if Beacon bore any fruit. And to their disappointment, nothing had happened.

"Well besides your aura being abnormal as always, I'm checking your vitals and your heartrate is going through the roof." Sombra replied and Jaune mentally kicked himself.

"It's nothing. Just some bad memories." He acted quickly to change the subject. "You find anything?" This earned a groan from Sombra.

"Nope. Been walking around Vale for hours and nothing has happened. Hey Widow, anything for your side." The only response the two had was silence on her end.

"Amelie. What's happening?" Jaune then said, now concerned if something was happening.

"Both of you. Check your scrolls on the fight." she said in a neutral tone laced with concern. Jaune grew confused at her order and was about to open his scroll up until Sombra interrupted him.

"Holy shit. Hermano, you need to check this out now." Sombra added and now his curiosity was peaked and opened his scroll to the live-stream of the fight.

His eyes widened when he saw two redheads standing before one another in a roaring colosseum. One was the girl who they discovered to be Penny and the other was Pyrrha. Jaune grew concerned though as he saw that his former partner having a somewhat troubled look on her face. He saw that she looked down at her weapons for a few moments before the fighting began.

His grasp tightened around the scroll as the pieces from the intel they got came together. "The catalyst." Jaune muttered. He then darted his head to face the flying colosseum and put a finger on his earpiece. "Amelie! I need you to find Cinder, Emerald or Mercury. As soon as you see any of them, take the shot. It will cause a panic and throw a wrench in their plan."

"Understood. Changing position now." She said and Jaune then turned to Vale.

"Sombra. I need you to check unlikely places. Rooftops, alleys, anything. Someone is bound to be waiting to attack or ambush. You find anything, tell me." He ordered and he could just tell that Sombra was sarcastically nodding at this.

"Yea, yea I got it." She said before going off to do her assignment. Jaune then continued to watch the fight, trying to see if the crowd contained any potential targets. Throughout the fight, he noticed that Pyrrha was becoming more and more distraught and he was becoming confused by this. Sure, Ozpin telling her about the maidens could trouble her immensely, but the way she was fighting was far too aggressive for the situation. It was as if she was seeing something that wasn't there…

Jaune's eyes widened in realization. Of course! They read in the files they got from Cinder that Emerald's semblance was to conjure illusions. This was a long shot, he knew that. but in all his time being Pyrrha's partner, he knew that she never would fight this ferociously and at the moment this seemed to be the strongest reason.

"Jaune I found Emerald." He heard Amelie say. Jaune then frantically turned to the flying arena.

"Take the shot! NOW!" He shouted. He didn't need to hear the familiar gunshot that rang through his earpiece to know that she listened to him. He looked to his scroll to see that all the cameras were now focused on one scene.

Unfortunately, it was one Jaune did not expect.

He saw that Pyrrha was on her knees, mortified with what she had done. He knew then and there that they were too late. The mangled, cybernetic corpse of her opponent, Penny was sprawled across the arena. The crowd was in a mix of panic and silence. Some fled the area where Amelie fired at, now showing a wounded Emerald, writhing in her seat. Jaune grinned at the sight of Emerald, knowing that the rounds that Amelie used were aura piercing so wherever she was shot, she wasn't going to be moving anytime soon. Although he couldn't help but feel his heart shrink at the sight of Pyrrha in that much despair. His grin turned to a frown and then he gritted his teeth as he saw the close up on Pyrrha, showing the tears run down her face. He was about to move out and meet up with Amelie until he noticed that his scroll then altered to have a red filter.

"This is not a tragedy." Jaune and his team's eyes widened at the familiar sound of the woman's voice.

"Cinder." Amelie growled over their comms and Jaune knew it was a good time to intervene.

"Sombra! Can you get the location where this is being broadcasted?" He asked as he was now making his way to the end of the rooftop.

"It will take me a bit. It's coming from a scroll. Also, Jaune, you need to watch out. I'm seeing some bullheads making their way to Beacon from the north." He turned to said direction and saw that she was right. A small armada of bullheads were quickly making their way torwards his location and he had to guess that it had to be the White Fang. Apparently that bastard Sienna Khan decided to use the grizzly image of Adam as a means to rally the troops. With proud words to destroy the humans, or just through sheer intimidation, it didn't matter anymore. Because in a few minutes, it seemed like all hell would break loose. He got on one knee and materialized all the weapons he had on him, making one last inventory check as he listened to that bitch's message.

"This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians." Jaune was doing his best to not focus too much on the voice as he inspected his dual shotguns that he got from his mentor. Reyes may have been an asshole, but he had taste when it came to firepower. Jaune checked the new metal designs though and noticed that the new modifications he and Sombra installed in them the night before were still in flawless condition. He grinned at this and looked at the other weapon that he had on him. The constant reminder of who he was before all of this.

"But are in reality, nothing more than men. Our academy's headmasters wield more power than most armies. And one was audacious enough to control both." Jaune chuckled at this as he inspected Crocea Mors. It was true what she was saying about how the power was getting to their heads. Unfortunately, Cinder was becoming a little hypocritical in that part. "And yet what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another star pupil." Jaune's grip on the sword tightened as soon as Cinder mentioned Pyrrha's name. He didn't care about her schpeal on how idiotic the kingdoms were, but mentioning Pyrrha was crossing the line.

"What need would Atlas have a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the grim could tell the difference. And to go off on this subject, do we even know why these so-called guardians let us be in harm's way when the grim flooded the streets not too long ago? While a pair of psychopaths and murderers went on a killing spree?" His scroll automatically popped up image after image of surprisingly himself killing countless people. The corpses of his first huntsmen team he killed, the assembly of the White Fang in the warehouse, the breech, the attack on the White Fang outpost, and the mutilation of Adam Taurus all appeared on the screen. How the hell did they even get these images? Were they watching him this whole time? And if so how? "Where were our so-called protectors then? Where was the protection promised by the huntsmen and huntresses? And where was the Atlas fleet this whole time while these murders were happening?"

"Sombra you have incoming." Widowmaker said, snapping Jaune out of his daze due to Cinder's speech.

"Yea I know I see the bullheads coming in." Sombra retorted.

"I'm not talking about them, look to the east." This sentence from Widowmaker also peaked Jaune's interest and decided to look in that direction.

"And so, I ask all of you, when the first gunshots ring out into the crowds of people," Cinder said, wrapping up her message. "Who do you think you can really trust?" the feed cut and Jaune's scroll dropped from his hand as he stared at the ungodly sight rampaging towards the city of Vale.

"That is a lot of grim." He said as he sheathed his sword. He readied his two shotguns and noticed that the bullheads that were landing around his location were all opening up for grim and white fang troops.

"LET'S KILL THEM ALL!" he heard one of the White Fang grunts say and a sickeningly wide smile grew on Jaune's face as he was dissolving into his smoke.

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

 **With Widowmaker:**

To say Amelie was angry would be an understatement.

She scouted out the entire colosseum from head to toe and there was no sign of Cinder. Emerald was wounded and she saw that the thief slowly blended with the frantic crowd, earning a reliable escape route via medical staff. Amelie also noticed that there was a gigantic Nevermore looming over the dome and that Nikos girl wasn't moving. She gritted her teeth at the situation, knowing that they failed in preventing the invasion. But what truly angered her was the way Cinder was telling everyone her message, acting like she was the victim. That heartless excuse for a human had no room to act innocent. Especially after causing all of this to happen.

She looked up to see that the Nevermore shattered the barrier that they were all underneath and landed in front of the Spartan. In Amelie's opinion, she didn't care what happened to her. dead or alive, it wouldn't change the fact that everything was going to hell in a handbasket for them all. But it wasn't her opinion that mattered in this situation. Jaune would defiantly have no qualms killing her if he found out that she let the Nikos girl die. She mentally cursed at what she was about to do.

She made a running start on the upper catwalk that she was positioned on and sprinted off into the arena dozens of feet below them. In mid-air, she unleashed a flurry of bullets with her alternate fire that consisted of an assault rifle. Amelie saw that most of the students that were still there looked up to see her attacking the grim and she shrugged it off. She used her grapple to latch onto the Nevermore's neck and swung to the ground, activating her sniper and launching a barrage of high impact bullets. The Nevermore screeched and was about to retaliate against Amelie, until a red blur rushed into the grim's face. An audible stabbing noise was prevalent and a girl with a red cloak dropped down in front of them, holding one of the blades that the Penny girl used.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" The girl that Jaune once mentioned as Ruby shrieked at the beast and the Nevermore backed away with a large gust of wind. Amelie held her ground and took aim once more at the grim that was closing in on them, only for a barrage of rocket lockers to impale the beast. The Nevermore crashed a few feet away from the three women and they saw the other students readying their weapons. Two that stood out to her though were the hammer wielding ginger and the green clad ninja that were atop the Nevermore and her eyes narrowed at them. It appeared that Jaune's entire old team was here now.

Her thought process was cut short when the Nevermore let out a shriek and was shaking off all of the huntsmen and huntresses on its back. Amelie proceeded to fire upon the monster while the others began to attack it from all sides. She saw that Nora slammed her hammer on its head while two great sword users finally cut off the damn things head. As the grim dissolved into a familiar looking smoke, the others were now having a short rest after that fight.

"Ruby." Amelie heard Pyrrha say. "I-I am so sorry." They could see the tears in Pyrrha's eyes and Amelie simply looked on as she saw that Ruby was thinking of something to say.

"I am too." The rose said while shaking her head. "But it wasn't your fault."

"B-but I-" Pyrrha was interrupted when Widowmaker stepped forward. Causing everyone to be tense at what she was going to do.

"Such a foolish little girl." Amelie said. Ren and Nora were about to intervene but Ruby told them to stay back. "From what I can see you were manipulated by that monster on the microphone. And now I see you have a choice to make. Sit here and cry about your problems. Pretending that what happened was some twisted nightmare." Amelie turned around and walked toward Pyrrhas weapons and picked them up. "Or actually be of some use and prove to me that you are that fierce warrior that your former partner has told me about." Ruby, Ren and Nora's eyes widened at this last remark and Pyrrha then pointed at her.

"You were the other person that night." The Spartan said and Amelie smirked at her. The others readied their weapons at her and she rolled her eyes.

"As much as I would love to stay and fight with you all. We have something more drastic to attend to. And I know he's strong. But Jaune can't fight an entire army of grim and the White Fang down at Beacon." Now everyone's eyes widened at this. Jaune was down there fighting? "So, if you all have any common sense, I would suggest that we lower the weapons and leave this retched place. After all, we have company." Amelie raised her rifle at the griffons that surrounded them all. The others began to get into battle stances until they all heard a gunshot ring out. Amelie and the rest of them all turned to see the two professors that were commentating on the tournament and had their weapons ready.

"I think it is time all of you leave." The shorter one stated. Amelie noticed that Ruby was about to protest until the one with the glasses spoke up.

"Ms. Rose, tonight will surely go down in Remnant's history. I would like all of my students to live through it." It took a few moments for Ruby to nod at this and head off to the airships with the rest of the students. Amelie was about to follow until she was stopped by the shorter man's voice.

"I take it you are affiliated with Mr. Arc?" The portly man asked. She turned around to see the two men starring at her. She nodded at this and the taller one sighed at this.

"We truly failed him as teachers. Make sure you do not repeat our mistakes." She looked at the taller one with glasses for a few moments until the mustached professor stepped forward and put a hand on the other's shoulder.

"And tell him we are sorry for not doing more." He said and she simply stared at the two that were becoming surrounded by griffons. Amelie then smirked at them, making them confused.

"Tell him yourself when you make it out of this." She said and the shorter professor let out a mighty laugh.

"Well said. Now go on. We'll take care of this." She gave them a light smile and took off after the students. Gunfire and boisterous laughter soon followed along with the screeches coming from the grim.

"So, those were some of the good people Jaune was talking about." She said to herself as she made it to the large crowd making their way onto the evacuation ships. Amelie saw in the sky that for some reason that the Atlas ships were attacking one another. She grew confused at this but decided to continue on. Before she could make it to one of the bullheads, she saw Ruby eyeing a rocket locker and let out a chuckle. Apparently Ruby heard this and turned around.

"You're going to see what's causing that commotion." Amelie asked and Ruby nodded. Ruby was about to input the codes until she stopped mid-way.

"Tell me. Does he still even care about us? Or is he down there trying to get revenge." The rose said, not even turning back around to face her. This time Amelie was troubled at what she was supposed to say next. Did he even care? Or was he using the guise of dark justice to kill once more. She then remembered when he aimed one of his guns at her head, all because she aimed her rifle at the girl in front of her and smirked at the memory.

"He wouldn't threaten to kill me for aiming at your head if he didn't." Ruby then turned to her with a confused look. "At the White Fang outpost in the Forever Fall. I was moments away from shooting you until he aimed his shotgun at my head. Told me you and the other three were off limits. So, from what I can tell you, he does care. And right now, he's fighting for the ones he finds innocent. Not for revenge." Ruby stood there for a few moments before turning back to the rocket locker and inputting a code. Amelie noticed that the rose wiped away some tears before hopping on and launching into the sky.

"Well, back to work." Amelie said as she rushed to the airship that was about to take off with the students inside. She used her grapple to latch to the side and decided that would be the best method to make it back to her partner and help out in the fight at Beacon hoping that things weren't too bad down there.

 **With Ruby:**

Despite the chaos and pandemonium that broke out not too long ago, Ruby felt calm as she made her way to the commanding airship. If she felt anything it was determination and a solid goal to stop the ship from attacking everything in its sights. Maybe it was the words that sniper said to her or just the new-found discovery that Jaune was with them in this fight that got her adrenaline pumping. Either way she was set on stopping this madness.

Ruby launched herself from the locker and landed on the roof of the massive ship. Her attention was directed to the maniacal laughter that was coming from inside the ship and she decided to make her way inside. She dropped through one of the air ducts and conveniently landed in the bridge where she saw an insane Roman Torchwick laughing uncontrollably as he was pressing random keys on the ship. Activating the defense systems and blasting anything he saw out of the sky.

"HAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS FUN! DON'T YOU AGREE NEO!" Ruby heard him say and looked around the room for said ice cream themed girl. He saw her in the corner of the room, curled up and beaten to a pulp. From what she could see from this is that Neo got Roman out of his cell and tried to help him escape. But from the bruises on her face and the terrified state she was in, Roman had other plans.

"HAHA! THAT FUCKING MONSTER CAN'T GET ME FROM UP HERE! I WONDER IF HE LIKES THE TASTE OF FRIGATE ROUNDS!" Ruby's eyes widened as she saw that the main guns were now aimed at the school and city below.

"Roman! Stop this now!" Ruby shouted as she readied Crescent Rose. Roman's head pointed towards her and he gave her an insane smile that made Ruby shudder.

"Little Red. Little Red. I must admit that this is a splendid surprise, but I have a monster to destroy. AND NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP ME FROM DOING SO!" he said as the main guns were charging up.

"Roman I will shoot you if you don't set this ship down this instant!" Ruby yelled as she readied her sniper at the insane man, who looked to have come to a realization.

"You're right." He said. Suddenly the ship went into a nosedive as Roman cackled. "LET'S SEE IF THAT MONSTER LIKES A SHIP TO THE FACE! HAHAHAHA!"

Ruby's survival instincts set in as she looked at the way she came. She was about to leave when she saw Neo hanging on one of the rails, terrified she was going to die in the crash. Ruby used her semblance and made her way to the petite girl. She picked her up and rushed to the outside of the ship. But not before she saw Roman installing something on the ship's computer. She shrugged it off at the moment. Her top priority was to get off the ship that was now plummeting to the ground. She made it out of the hatch and began to sprint up the side of the aircraft. Her legs were beginning to ache as the incline became steeper. At the last few yards of the stern, she used her semblance to launch herself and Neo off the ship and they began to freefall. Ruby had a small body, but holding onto Neo was no problem for her as she moved her so that the smaller girl was wrapped around her back. Ruby then used her rifle to slowly pogo-stick her way back down to the ground.

When the two landed, Ruby saw that they were at the docks at Beacon. Behind her though she saw that the massive command ship plummeted to the ground and created a massive explosion. Both recoiled at the small but noticeable shockwave and Ruby was the first to recover from the blast.

Knowing that the fighting wasn't over, she was about to take off and join her fellow students beginning to fight the grim, White Fang, and now the Atlas drones? Ruby's eyes widened in realization, knowing what Roman uploaded at the main console. It was something that turned the drones against everyone. But where did he get it? Did he get it from Neo?

She took two steps until she felt a trembling hand wrap around her wrist. Ruby looked down to see Neo silently sobbing and Ruby knelt down to her.

"Stay here. Help is on the way. I can see the bullheads now. I need to go." She was about to force herself away until she saw neo typing frantically on her scroll.

'What about that reaper? He's here isn't he?" Ruby gave her a reassuring smile and put a hand on her shoulder.

"He's busy at the moment. He won't hurt you." Ruby received a few shaky nods from her and the rose turned around, sprinting off into the fray to join her friends. She also noticed that her former team was for some reason present too but running in the opposite direction.

Just what were they up too?

 **With Blake and Yang:**

This was a nightmare.

Grim infesting themselves everywhere, Atlas machines going rouge, and to top it off the White Fang were semi responsible for the attack. Albeit the main source of this chaos was the woman on the microphone that sent her and the rest of her team into shock, not that they weren't already.

To think that they had practically started a global war all because they decided to kill Jaune three months ago, seemed a little unbelievable. Not to mention the near catatonic state Yang was in after that debacle with Ruby. To see a sister practically disown the other and telling her she never wanted to see her again, or any of them to be exact, truly hurt the group. In their former leader's defense, though, they did start it.

Now was not the time though for reminiscing on the miserable past though. What mattered at the moment was finding the other students and getting out of Beacon. When they reached the main courtyard of the school, Weiss decided to split from the other two to go and investigate where one of the rouge paladins was heading. Blake and Yang decided to check out the other end of the campus in case there were any other survivors. The first stop was the mess hall and they wish they never went there.

The entire cafeteria was decorated in blood and grim remains. Corpses were all over the place with looks of horror plastered on all of their freshly dead faces. The one thing that the two partners soon noticed was that the victims were all white fang. Every mangled body that was either sprawled on the floor or walls was from the faunus extremist group and they knew then and there who was responsible for this.

"OUM PLEASE NO!" The two heard a noise further into the mess hall and they pursued the terrified voice. What they saw next truly shocked them.

In front of them was the one that they once considered a friend now turned monster, slowly snapping the antlers off a White Fang member that was a deer faunus. As he slowly broke off each piece, the screams grew louder and if it wasn't for the fire overlapping the walls surrounding them all, they would believe that they were in hell, facing one of their worst nightmares.

"You wanted a war, this is what you got." Jaune said to the terrified faunus and pulled out one of his shotguns, proceeding to shoot the grunt's head clean off. The two huntresses were snapped into a sense of reality when they heard the gunshot and readied their weapons. Blake didn't realize it until she saw it, but her hands were shaking violently, causing her Gambol Shroud to shake in her hands. Apparently, the shaking caught the attention of the monster in front of them.

"Well this is a bonus." He said as he readied his shotguns. Blake was close to freezing in place, almost losing the will to fight. That is until she heard the familiar cocking noise from Ember Celica. She looked to her left to see Yang with nothing but rage written all over her face. Her semblance ignited and danced with the flames around them.

"You took EVERYTHING from me." Yang growled, this earned Blake's morale to increase a bit as she looked at the man in front of them.

"That's impossible." He retorted right before he vanished with his smoke and appeared behind both of them. "I haven't taken your life yet." Yang and Blake turned around and jumped back, firing an onslaught of dust rounds at the reaper. He simply phased through them all and they heard a chuckle come from him.

"My turn." He muttered before opening fire on both of them. Both dove for cover on each end of the room. Yang was hiding under a pile of tables and Blake was against one of the pillars. The two looked at each other and nodded. A long-range fight would be suicide if they tried to fight him in the tight space. So, the best bet they had was to hit him up close. And considering that he didn't have any melee weapons that they could see, they believed that they had a chance of making out of this alive. Blake felt the rounds whizz past her but she kept true to her charge. She had no time to be afraid. She then felt the tension at the end of her ribbon and grinned, Blake then infused her aura into her arm and used all of her strength to launch Yang at Jaune. The cat faunus began to slide against the ground and used her katana to slice at his lower body while Yang took his upper body, finally they were going to get an edge in this fight.

That belief was shattered when they saw that Jaune was blocking both strikes with what appeared to be two machetes. He pushed them both back and they were now horrified to see the murderous look in his eyes.

"Have to say that was exciting." He sneered. "I got to remember to thank Sombra for helping me with the modifications. Transforming weapons are a bitch to make in one night." Yang appeared to grow much angrier at this and decided to charge at him once more. He phased through her punch and use the space that he invaded to throw her into a pile of debris in the far corner of the room. He then turned his attention to Blake and she grew fearful as she felt his gaze on her.

"You're going to kill me now you murderer?" She said with the remaining bravery she could muster. This courage vanished as he began to approach her. He took two steps before vanishing and appearing right before her, about to land an overhead strike with one of his machetes. She blocked it and the two were now at a standoff.

"Says the former terrorist." Jaune growled and Blake's eyes narrowed at him. "And no. I'm not going to kill you. Tonight." He then broke off the stalemate and appeared by her leg. He made a sideways slash and sliced through Blake's aura and digging into her leg. She let out a scream of pain and fell to the ground as Jaune slowly removed the blade. "I plan to rip you apart. Piece by piece. I plan to do what you three did to me. I want you to truly feel the fear, the loss, and of course." He said as he readied his other machete. "The pain." He thrusted down the blade and it dove into Blake's abdomen. Her aura couldn't help her after the immense impact the blade had. She gritted her teeth and refused to scream and give Jaune the satisfaction of her agony. This only continued for a few seconds until he twisted the blade which made her let out an unbearable scream.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" They both saw Yang more furious than she ever was and launched herself at the two. One of her arms was reeled back for a powerful strike and was about to land on Jaune until she felt the same familiar choking feeling around her neck. Blake saw that Jaune had caught Yang midair and had her in a hold, making her right arm stick out more.

"Didn't think you were this stupid to charge straight in again." Jaune chuckled and before any of the two responded, Jaune proceeded to slowly hack away at Yang's arm. Each strike penetrating her aura and carving through her flesh and muscle. The screams escalated with each hack and at the end of the torture, Jaune grabbed the arm and ripped off the rest. Causing muscle strands and ligaments of meat to tear in an unholy fashion. The screams soon died down into silence and Jaune looked down to see the blonde brawler passed out.

"Pathetic." He said and tossed her next to Blake. "Consider it a taste of what you did to me. And I assure you. There will be more to come." Jaune slowly dematerialized and his smoke trail left the mess hall, all while Blake heard the satisfied laughter come from him. When the laughter soon ended, Blake struggled toward her partner and hoisted Yang's remaining arm over her shoulder. She continued to get them both out of the burning building, all while praying that she would wake up from this nightmare.

 **And here we go again. Thank you all for supporting me and special thanks to SunwukongMogar for helping me through this. Honestly, it's hard to believe how many follows and favorites this, my first story has caught and I am eternally grateful for all of your feedback. I am slowly getting back into the groove of things after the very painful past days and I assure you all, you will get another chapter soon. With that said, drop a comment or review and as always, be fierce everyone.**

 **SparkyDapperDab signing off.**


	20. Chapter 20

**HELLO AGAIN! So after the past excruciatingly painful four days I went through, I decided why not write in the process, help me get my mind off the pain. Yea that didn't work out well. But I am happy to say I am well enough to write again and also well enough to start spring semester at college tomorrow. Yay -_- so that may delay some of my chapters but considering that we are coming to a close of arc 2, I think it fits well in my time frame. Anyways special thanks to my beta SunwukongMogar for helping me out with this chapter and thank you all for liking and supporting this story.**

 **I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. Those belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. ENJOY!**

Chapter nineteen

Old faces, new desires

 **With Sombra:**

"Well shit." Sombra said as she looked over the city that was in ruins. She saw on monitors and surveillance a while back during the breech and how much damage that caused, but this was something else. If she wasn't seeing Atlas drones gunning down civilians, it was the grim eating them alive. This was all a new scenery and was nothing like watching it through her monitors. Of course, she had seen death before. It wasn't a new element for her, she worked with a cold-blooded killer for Oum's sake. But this, this wasn't just death.

This was in its own right, Hell.

She was about to dive more into her train of thought, thinking about how truly evil this all was until she heard sounds of intense battle coming from the town square. Sombra put her thoughts aside as she ran to see what was causing it, only to dive behind cover and keep herself hidden from the huntsman, huntress, and general that were combatting both drones and grim. Sombra winced at this, knowing who those three were. Glynda Goodwitch, Qrow Branwen, and James Ironwood. To the people who were fleeing, those three were a symbol of hope. A symbol that showed that they may have a chance of getting out of this alive. But to her, all she saw was an annoying obsticale

Well, that hope was running dry as she saw them slowly growing tired at the constant fighting of grim and drones. It was here where the hacker was caught in a bind. She needed to find the source of the broadcast and she was so close. Just on the opposite end of the square and she would be home free, if it wasn't for the three ferocious fighters in front of her.

She looked up and noticed that one of the unmanned paladins was making its way toward them and she sighed. If they were going to fight her then they could at least thank her for being a deus ex macchina when she saved their sorry asses.

Sombra sprinted from behind and threw a translocator far above them all. she activated her semblance and felt her augmented aura seep into the machine and she grinned. She teleported high above the battle and as she felt the sweet satisfaction of a successful hack, she used the main guns of the paladin to demolish any grim and drones in the vicinity. As Sombra was landing, she saw the three of them confused at the sudden change in the machine and were surprised when she landed on the hull. Sombra looked up at them and gave a smirk before patting the paladin and deactivating it like it was a loyal pet.

"You're welcome." Sombra said breaking the silence between the four of them. She twirled her gun with ease and was about to pass by until she saw a giant sword blocking her path.

"You're the one that stole Ozpin's files." The grizzled man she couldn't care for said and Sombra simply shrugged.

"Guilty." She replied and ducked under the sword, proceeding onward to her objective.

"Then you know what we are hiding." The blonde woman said. This made Sombra's fists tighten, but she still kept her egotistical smile.

"Of course. You honestly think we'll let that happen?" Sombra said and noticed the noticeably tipsy huntsman growl and started her way but was stopped by the general.

"A child like you wouldn't understand the sacrifice it took to make it possible." Ironwood then said with certainty. Sombra winced at this and Ironwood took notice. "You have no idea how much we care for the well-being of everyone. And that plan that you and your psychotic group are trying to foil is to make sure that this didn't happen." That was it for Sombra. Her snarky façade dissipated and now she grew angry while gesturing to the destruction.

"AND IT HAPPENED ANYWAY! YOU CLAIM TO PROTECT AND ALL YOU DO IS LOOK OUT FOR YOURSELVES!" Sombra shouted to the general and they reeled back at the sudden outburst. "You're talking to someone who has augmented her aura. And let me tell you asshole, aura should not be fucked with. Myself, Widow, and Reaps are testament to that." Glynda's eyes widened at this and Sombra knew who she was talking about. "And yet you want to rip one aura out of a person and force it in another who just so happens to be one of the few people my teammate gives a damn for. Real protectors of the year there." Before any of them could reply, she rolled her eyes. "Man, fuck this. I got work to do." She said while through another translocator and gave the three a hateful glare before teleporting to the rooftops. Leaving them to think if what they were planning was truly good.

"Ugh I hate losing it like that." Sombra muttered to herself as she grew closer to her intended location. She hated losing her temper like she did. When she was growing up, Sombra learned two things on the streets of Vaccuo. That information was key and to always keep a poker face. Those two golden rules of hers were the foundation of what she was and she loathed herself for breaking one of those rules. The thing was that she took aura personally. It was a means of individuality and for them to defile that symbol of uniqueness made her want to puke. But now wasn't the time to internally quarrel on ideologies, she still had an assignment to do.

She leapt over a few more rooftops and arrived at the sight while noticing that no one was there. The only presence was a scroll repeatedly beeping. She grew confused until her aura tingled a bit and felt another threat coming her way. Survival instincts kicked in and she jumped back while raising her weapon. She was inches away from a combat boot making contact with her face and when she recovered, she saw a somewhat angered man clad in grey as he got into a fighting stance. She smirked at his somewhat mad persona and aimed her SMG at him.

"To be honest man, grey is not your color. Especially for a last name that's Black." She said. She already knew who this kid was and it didn't bother her in the slightest. The hacker honestly thought that it would have been more effective to rig the scroll to explode instead of a mere distraction.

"I had to carry my partner that one of you bitches shot, through grim infested streets and you think I care about my looks?" he growled and Sombra chuckled a bit at this while eyeing the boy.

"Carrying her out because you care?" she said with a short laugh. "To be blunt, I know your kind. Only finds people as a means to an end. That is until you meet someone more powerful, then you become their little bitch."

Mercury let out a roar, not caring for his ego at the moment and wanted to get some hits on the woman in front of him. That is until he fell forward in confusion while wondering why the hell his legs weren't moving. He looked up to see her smirk grow and then looked down at his legs to see a purple aura circulating around them.

"Anything can be hacked Mr. Black." She said and crouched to his eye level. "And anyone." Before Mercury could reply, he felt a searing pain in his joints and saw the aura dismantling his legs, including the nerve endings. This is when he shouted and seethed in agony. Drool began to exert with each breath he took, trying to conceal his torment all while Sombra continued to watch on in glee.

"Well considering that you have basically wasted my time on this idiotic goose chase. I think I'll give the griffons a free meal." She said and suddenly noticed his look of pain turned to one of shock and then for some reason amusement. Mercury then started to laugh into hysterics which made Sombra even more confusion. "Okay man it isn't that funny." Sombra then said and her only reply was him pointing up.

"But that is." He replied and she looked up, only for her to nearly go in shock at the site of a massive dragon grim letting out a monstrous roar and making its way to Beacon. She frantically turned back to Mercury to see him still laughing uncontrollably and she decided knocking him out with a swift kick to the head was a good idea.

"REAPS!" She shouted in her earpiece. "You got a huge grim coming your way!" She heard Jaune growl at this. Knowing that he saw what she was seeing.

"Sombra, Amelie, I think it's time to get an edge in this fight. Remember that failsafe from the CCT I told you two about?" He asked and Sombra grew confused.

"What does that have to do with anything?" She heard Amelie say and they both heard Jaune chuckle.

"Wanna see some fireworks?" He asked which confused the other two even more. Sombra was about to ask what the hell he was talking about until she heard deafening explosions coming from all around them. She looked below the rooftop she was on and saw a unit of Atlas drones glowing yellow and then detonation a massive explosion.

"Holy shit Jaune! You did this?!" she said as explosions took place all over the city.

"That's what happens when their fusion cores overload over a short circuit. A little idiotic to have that blueprint be sent through the CCT. Figured that it would cause a nice distraction as well." Jaune replied and Sombra then became puzzled.

"Then why do it now and not when they started shooting anything that moved?" An audible sigh was heard through the mics.

"Had to make sure most of the civilians were evacuated. Not saying all of them got away though. Anyways, Sombra, I need you to head back to the safe house and grab any files or anything valuable there. Amelie and I will meet you at these coordinates." Her scroll vibrated and she looked down to see that there was a destination two miles south from their safe house, in the outskirts of Vale.

"What are you two going to do?" she asked a little concerned of what were they about to do.

"Finally get some closure." He replied.

 **With Beacon students, three minutes' prior:**

Weiss couldn't believe she actually did it. Even without her older sister's help, she finally activated her summoning which proceeded to take down the paladin that was about to hurt Velvet. She let out a tired smile as the machine fell to the ground and used Myrtenaster as cane to lean on. She looked all around her and noticed despite the destruction, most of the students were alright and still able to fight. Weiss sighed in relief at this and was about to sit down until she heard a familiar scream that was calling for help. Everyone turned their heads and Weiss let out a gasp at the sight before her.

Blake was struggling to stand as she was carrying Yang who was now missing one of her arms. The ripped flesh at the brawler's joint was testament to how painful it was and passing out seemed to be understandable. The heiress also noticed that Blake wasn't doing well either considering that there was a deep stab wound in her lower torso and this now caught the worry of Sun and Neptune as they rushed to her aid. Weiss attempted to get up but was so drained from the fight that she couldn't even muster the strength to stand and decided to lean back on the destroyed robot. Despite not being able to move, she heard the conversation that was taking place.

"Holy shit! Blake, what the hell happened?!" Sun said as he rushed to her side. Neptune grabbed Yang and proceeded to carry her away to the docks that were now evacuating anyone that was still stuck at Beacon.

"Reaper." That's all she needed to say for everyone to go wide eyed at this. Velvet was the most shocked as she put her hands to her mouth. To say that every student was shocked by the revelation that Jaune Arc was the one responsible for the chaos and murder that had occurred was an understatement in its own right. Team CFVY were among the crowd when Jaune showed them who he was and what he could do. The thing that CF(V)Y was concerned the most about was how Velvet felt on the matter. They all knew that the rabbit faunus had some admiration for him and she truly connected with him in the sense that they were both bullied for who they were. So, when they discovered that he died, she didn't take the news too well.

But now, after all of them saw up close what he was capable of, it scared them. They all knew Jaune to be the goof that gave it his all and would always look after the ones he cared for, But this, seeing two students gravely wounded and in an immense amount of pain, they were having a hard time believing all of this to be true.

"That bastard." Sun growled as he squeezed his fists tightly, so much in fact that his knuckles became white.

"Where is he?!" Weiss hollered from her spot and Blake looked up to her and was about to respond until her eyes went wide.

"LOOK OUT!" Blake screamed and the others looked to see for some reason that the busted paladin began to glow yellow and before anyone could react, an explosion engulfed the entire area. The students were launched back by the shockwave and most of them were alright due to their auras absorbing the blast.

That is until they heard an ungodly scream of agony.

"WEISS!" The students heard and saw that Neptune just returned to see that as the dust settled, the heiress was tossing and turning all while uncontrollably screaming. As Neptune grew closer to her, he gasped as his eyes were now upon Weiss who was missing her left arm and right leg. Her bones were visible to the naked eye and half of her torso was burned to a crisp. Neptune saw that her aura was frantically working around her, trying it's best not to let Weiss succumb to death and before he could do anything, Neptune saw that Weiss was no longer screaming and her eyes closed. He rushed to her side and put his head to her heart. A sigh of relief could be heard through the silence. Thankfully she just passed out, but things could get worse if she didn't get medical attention soon.

"Now that is a surprise." The student's focus all snapped to attention at that voice and readied their weapons at the man in front of them.

Neptune and Sun had anger written all over their faces while the rest of them were either terrified or downright shocked to see the cloaked man holding two shotguns at his sides. That the reaper, or commonly known as Jaune Arc was in front of them all and he was the one responsible for the three severely wounded students that laid before him.

 **With Jaune, present time:**

Jaune eyed them all with a passive glare and noticed all the members of WBY had suffered greatly by his hand and he let out a chuckle at the sight. He had no idea that one of the explosions would do this to Weiss and he was pleasantly surprised at his excellent timing.

"YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!" He heard the monkey faunus yell at him while gesturing to the destroyed setting they were all present in.

"No." Jaune replied while pointing to the three wounded huntresses in training. "Although the sight of them is hilarious." He smirked at Sun and Neptune who were so close to charging at him. The only thing holding them back was their raw fear. "I also find it funny that you two side with them without question. Not even knowing what they did to deserve this." Everyone grew confused at this except Ren and Nora who still looked at him with shock.

"What the hell are you talking about Arc?" Coco Adele said while readying her minigun. He looked at her and then noticed that Velvet was taking his presence the hardest. He looked down to the three laid out in front of him and they could all hear him growl.

"Honestly I am tired of retelling my story and we don't have the time. So, I'll let them explain how they turned me into this." Jaune noticed that everyone besides Ren and Nora went wide eyed at this.

"Bullshit." The Monkey faunus said and Jaune saw that he and his blue haired friend only grew even more angry at this. "There is no way." Jaune simply looked on and lifted his mask to show them that he was grinning.

"I assure you I didn't kick myself into a grim pit." Both huntsmen in training gagged at the sight of muscle fibers and bone slowly deteriorating until Jaune placed back on his mask. He noticed that they weren't going to be a problem anymore and he decided now would be a good time to get back to business.

As Jaune made his way past new faces and old friends, he noticed that Velvet's gaze never left and he gave her a nod as he passed her. She had no idea how to react and before she could say anything, her leader grabbed her shoulder.

"Vel, I don't think now is the best time." She said and Velvet was about to retort until Coco gestured for her to look at him. She instantly understood what she meant as she saw that Jaune was face to face with his old teammates. An eerie silence hung over the group that were all facing the reaper and it was then that he decided to break it.

"Ren, Nora." He said as he was now in front of the two that he once called family. "Where's Pyrrha?" He received no response from them and he let out a growl of frustration. "Please." He said with more desperation in his voice. "I need to know." He saw that Ren let out a sigh. The ninja pointed to the tower and Jaune's fists tightened at this. Of course, Ozpin would go on with his plan while the city and school were burning. He was about to take off in that direction until he felt two hands grab his shoulders. He looked back to see both his former teammates holding him back and he let out an audible sigh.

"I promise I'll bring her back." Jaune said as he saw tears in both of their eyes. before he knew it, the bubbly bomber glomped him and he reeled back at the sudden affection. Sobbing could be heard from Nora and he crouched down to the ground with her as he reciprocated the hug and patted her head. Through all of his pain, he missed this the most. The affection of his team. Pyrrha's encouraging words, Nora's exciting antics, and Rens tranquil but positive presence. He missed these small details so much and he gritted his teeth, knowing that this may be the last time he felt this warm feeling from his former team.

"Can we say the same about you?" Ren then asked and Jaune looked up to his once brother he never had and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, followed by a soft chuckle.

"You wouldn't want me back." He said to them and Nora went wide eyed at this. "Our team already went through hell, but I'm going to do my best to keep it from falling apart again. Ren, it may not mean anything now but as an Arc, I promise to get Pyrrha back to you all." Jaune was the one to go wide eyed now as he felt Ren join in on the hug. Not once when he was their leader did Ren ever display this much affection and it didn't just shock Jaune, but the rest of them.

"It means everything to me." Ren said with a shaky voice. He then looked to his partner and gave her a soft smile. "To us." Jaune nodded at this and broke away from the hug. He looked around to see the silent students all around him. WBY was still unconscious and no matter how badly he wanted to hurt them even further, he knew that Pyrrha was the one that mattered more at the moment.

"Get to the ships." He told them all. "Things are going to get much worse here if that's any indication." He pointed to the dragon grim now approaching the tower. "Pyrrha will meet you there." Ren and Nora nodded at this and Jaune turned toward the tower and proceeded to disappear into smoke. Leaving the two he once called family behind.

"Son of a bitch." Jaune muttered as he saw the dragon lop off the roof of the tower. Considering the struggle and dim light of fire illuminating the top, he figured that Pyrrha was up there fighting and his heart sank a bit. Did she attain the fall maiden power? Was she truly gone?

"Need a hand?" He turned to his left to see where the familiar voice came from and grinned as Amelie made her way towards him. He assumed due to the grim remains in her wake, she was busy dealing with the cannon fodder that was swarming the school.

"As a matter of fact, I do." He said before folding his arms. "Question though. Do you think you're strong enough to throw me?" She quirked an eyebrow at his question. Jaune then gestured to her grapple hook and her eyes widened, followed by a devilish grin.

"Considering the conditions, I believe I can, if you make yourself lighter." He nodded at this while Amelie launched her grapple hook about halfway to the top. He grabbed her wrist and she reciprocated but then let out a shaky breath as she was looking up at the top of the tower. Jaune noticed this and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" He asked and she slightly shook her head.

"What if she's up there?" Amelie asked and Jaune lowered his head in deep thought. He knew she was talking about Cinder. He also knew that she didn't want to repeat what happened last time she saw her, knowing that they barely got away from that encounter.

Jaune let out a breath while he removed his mask and lowered his hood. Red eyes were now meeting amber and he gave her a reassuring smile. "It's not like last time. We know what were up against. And you're not alone in this anymore. We're partners remember?" For some reason, he saw that Amelie's cheeks flushed red a bit and moments later she readied her spider goggles while giving him a smirk.

"That's right." She said. Moments later Jaune felt the g-forces on his disintegrating face as they both ascended the tower at neck breaking speeds. He heard Amelie let out a yell and felt himself being sling-shot even higher while using his smoke to make him move faster up the building. His mind raced as he prayed that he would make it in time. Prayed that Pyrrha wasn't gone and in her place, was the Fall Maiden.

He shot over the edge of the tower and looked to see the scene in front of him and his mind for some reason, slowed down at the situation in front of him. Pyrrha hurled her shield at Cinder who somehow managed to get her arrow to disintegrate around Akuko. His eyes widened as he felt that Pyrrha's aura was drained due to the uncertain connection between their auras and his body went into overdrive.

"NO!" The blonde roared as he launched himself into the arrows path and caught it mere centimeters away from the spartan. Both Pyrrha and Cinder went wide eyed at the sudden outburst and now the villainess was face to face with the massive thorn in her and her mistress's side once again. Pyrrha on the other hand gasped at the sight of him. Despite his horrendous condition, it felt like he carried a stronger purpose within him. Just the way he stood before his new adversary showed that there was a change, she just didn't know what it was.

"So the annoying shadow shows up aga-" *BLAM* Cinder was interrupted as her aura was impacted by a blast from one of Jaune's shotguns.

"Shut up." He said and noticed to his confusion, that Cinder's eyes ignited into flames and her aura radiated fire all around her, showing that his little stunt pissed her off.

"Jaune?" he heard his former partner say behind him and he let out a sigh of relief. He made it. Pyrrha was safe, but this fact also cause his heart to go stiff. Knowing what had to be done after Cinder was dealt with. Not only that, but it appeared that Cinder now had the Fall Maiden's powers, hampering his plans just a bit.

"Stay back." He replied to Pyrrha as he readied both his guns. Cinder's flames grew larger and she readied a blast at the two. Jaune was about to brace for the impact until he heard the familiar sniper fire coming from above him. Jaune smiled as he saw Amelie's rounds impact Cinder's aura even more and notice this was starting to piss her off.

"Thanks for the save." He said jokingly as Amelie landed and smiled at his quip without losing eye contact with her former tormentor. Jaune was about to take aim as well until he saw his partners rifle block his view.

"Go." Amelie said and Jaune's eyes widened. There was no way she could take this monster in front of them head on.

"Amelie, don't be-" He was quickly interrupted by Amelie who still hadn't stopped smiling.

"I know what you need to do and you know what I need to do Jaune. So please let me do this." Jaune noticed after she said this, the look in her eyes wasn't that of distraught or even anger like last time. It was the same look that he had when he took on the Ursa all those months ago and the same look he had when he fought against WBY in the Forever Fall.

Sheer determination.

He let out a chuckle mixed with a sigh and turned around to put Pyrrha in a princess carry. He chuckled as he heard make an 'eep' noise and he walked to the edge of the tower.

"You come back from this. You hear me?" he said and he could tell that Amelie was smirking at his request.

"Just like you, I always keep my promises. Besides, someone's got to keep you and Sombra from tearing each other's heads off." Jaune let out a laugh at this and gave her one last nod before falling off the side of the tower with Pyrrha in his arms. Amelie let out one last breath to collect her thoughts as she looked at the furious Fall Maiden in front of her. Even though the sight in front of her was daunting, Amelie couldn't help but quip just like Jaune to make Cinder even more angry.

"Come step into my parlor." She said as her goggle lenses narrowed on her target. "I dare you."

 **PLOT TWIST! Spider vs Maiden. Who will win?! What about Jaune and Pyrrha?! Why am I cruel to end the chapter like this?! All to be answered in the next chapter! This chapter felt satisfying to write because when I started this one, I was still going through the pain and I could barely focus. But after an inspiring moment of listening to 2112 by Rush, I got hyped for some reason and powered through it with WILL AND DETERMINATION! I hope you all enjoyed this and more is to come you beautiful people. Drop a comment and as always BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Okay I have A LOT of explaining to do. But I will save it for after the chapter. Anyway I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. Those belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **ENJOY!**

Chapter twenty

Breaking free

"Ruby!" Nora shouted in relief as she saw the red clad huntress in training run up to the group that was in the process of evacuating. Ruby was shocked to see the worn and weary look of all of her friends and fellow students, but relieved that they were alright.

"Are you alright?!" Ruby exclaimed, seeing that both Nora and Ren were somewhat wounded in their battle against the paladins and was worried for her team. Ren simply responded While Nora brought her into a hug.

"We're fine. Everyone here is alright. But…" Ruby became confused as she saw that Nora's look became a little more depressed and the bomber gestured to the group behind her and Ruby turned to see a shocking scene.

She saw her former team. All unconscious and hooked up to some sort of medical appliances as field medics operated on them while the shuttles were coming in courtesy of general Ironwood. Blake's side was being stitched up from what she saw as a stab wound and from what the rose could see, it was a brutal impact. Weiss had the most attention though as she saw that the heiress's body was mutilated with burns and noticed that some of her limbs were no longer there. Ruby also saw that the scar on her temple now spread down and across her face with a horrendous burn. She kept on looking at them and saw that Yang was missing one of her arms and considering how the joint looked, it was as if the arm was ripped off.

"Did he-" Ruby was cut off by Nora who simply nodded her head. Ruby's eyes widened at this for a few moments until they hardened on her former team. "Good." She growled and this caused an uproar from Sun and Neptune that heard her last comment.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Sun roared at the rose who didn't even show a hint of emotion. "YOU'RE ON HIS SIDE?!" Ruby still didn't budge from the faunus's rage and simply nodded at him. Sun and Neptune went wide eyed at her gesture and before Sun could vent his anger on Ruby he felt a strong hand grab his wrist. The three looked to see that Yatsuhashi along with Velvet were behind them and preventing the two from doing anything harmful to Ruby.

"You want to know why I hate them? Why I am glad that this happened to them? Why I'm not their leader?" she then pointed to her former team.

"Because Jaune saved my life. A fraud, a fake, and a failure saved my life and they thought it was appropriate to kill him." Yatsuhashi and Velvet both let go of the two who went still. Everyone was now. Nora and Ren were by her side when she stared intently at Sun and Neptune. Yet her message was for all the students there. "They hunted him down the night of our first mission in the Forever Fall and Yang kicked him into a pit that spawned Grim." Ruby heard Velvet begin to cry and saw that Coco was comforting her teammate, but the look of disbelief was written all over her face. It was written on everyone's face when they heard the words come out of Ruby's mouth.

"From what we know, he is in constant agony. His cells degenerate and regenerate constantly. Because of them playing God, they are causing my closest friend to live with being ripped apart on a normal basis. So, that is why I think they deserved this." Ruby ended her statement and everyone was either looking at her or the tower that Jaune took off to. She could see the curtain be lifted off of everyone's eyes and they saw who WBY really were. What they were capable of. How they were the true monsters and Jaune, the murderer, the psychopath, the one that caused fear to slowly leak into the hearts of every single one of them,

Was the victim all along.

"I… I…" Sun was at a loss for words. He and Neptune were the ones that were affected by this the most. They were with them. The two transfer students were on WBY's side this whole time. Helping them through the tough times. Agreeing with their ideals. They even agreed to help take down Jaune. The two were now on their hands and knees in such an overwhelming essence of anger and regret. How they were fooled so easily by the three that they trusted were fighting for a good cause.

Ruby looked down at the two and saw that Neptune began to vomit at this sudden realization. Surprising everyone, she knelt down to the two and pulled them both into a gentle hug.

"You couldn't have known. My team and I were ordered to keep it confidential. Considering everything that has happened, I think this is a good excuse. I don't blame you two. Not even a little bit. But now you know." She cooed both of them. she remembered that her mother used to do the same thing when she was in trouble. She would call out the problem but see it from a different perspective.

"What now then?" she heard Sun say. Ruby helped both of them up and she glared at her former team.

"Get on the bullheads and get them out of here." She said and they looked at her with confusion. "I need you all to calm everyone down and make sure things in Vale are okay. I'm going to find them and make sure they make it back safe. I will make sure of it." No one could object due to Ruby speeding off without warning.

"I can't believe this." everyone turned to see Yatsuhashi with his left hand placed on his face. "To think someone so pure can be tainted by ones we called friends. Ones that we trusted." Everyone was now looking at the wounded three that were being carried on to the bullheads, now with looks of disgust. Considering that they were just told, no wonder Ruby, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha held so much hate against them.

 **With Amelie**

The dragon circled the two as a massive spectator on the fight that was about to begin. Cinder was standing there with somewhat of a angered look while Amelie was passive. The goggles covering the top half of her face were only enforcing that fact.

"I don't know whether to commend you on your bravery or insult you for your stupidity." Cinder said while folding her arms. "You honestly think you have a chance against a maiden? While that is heroic of-"

*BLAM!*

Cinder was once again interrupted by Amelie firing upon her. The sniper was gripping her rifle tightly and irritation was apparent on Amelie.

"Don't you ever shut up?" she asked and fired once more at Cinder. "You made my life a nightmare." *BLAM!* "You and your mistress made me into this." *BLAM!* "You made me take away the one thing I truly cared about." *BLAM!* "Honestly I have waited a long time for this. So long in fact that I rushed in once and almost got the one of the few people I can truly respect killed." The bullets kept firing with every word that left Amelie's mouth. Causing Cinder to back away a bit into a defensive position. "Honestly I was scared. Scared that I had to face someone like you alone. That's why I missed your head back in Vale." Amelie then rushed forward and landed a solid roundhouse kick to Cinder's head.

"But now I know. I know that we are alike. This isn't a heroic fight. We both know that. We are killers." Amelie then pointed her rifle at Cinder's head. "But there is one difference between us. One distinct fact that makes us complete opposites. That difference is where you see chess pieces, I see people. I am no saint. But I will never." She yanked Cinder forward by the collar of her dress and let out a growl. "EVER be as heartless as you."

Her goggles disconnected so that Cinder could see the unbridled fury in Amelie's eyes. Somehow even if she was programed to not feel emotion. Even if she was brainwashed by the monster in human skin in front of her to never feel any form of remorse, she still stared intently. With each second, Amelie was breaking free of her emotional restraints and finally being free from Cinder and her nightmarish ways. And she had to thank her partner for showing her that it was okay to be and feel this way. That despite being a monster for so long, that it was actually okay to embrace it.

Because she wasn't alone anymore.

However, this pause was a ripe opportunity for Cinder to retaliate. The heat in the area intensified and Amelie notice that Cinder's aura was rising even after firing relentlessly at her. The dragon also noticed this and backed away. Amelie couldn't tell if it was out of fear or respect but she knew that what was to come next would not bode well for her if she didn't back away.

The sniper fired her grapple shot and zipped across the makeshift arena. Just in time to avoid the shockwave of fire, followed by the blood curdling roar come from Cinder. Amelie readied her rifle and her goggles closed once more as she was now standing before an unholy amount of fire.

Flames burst from all sides. Apparently, her speech worked at getting her mad. Cinder's livid expression was proof enough. The sniper dove to the side, avoiding one of the blasts that nearly seared her skin off. Amelie let out a few more rounds at Cinder and saw that some actually did impact and Cinder noticed this as well.

Currents of fire ignited from both of Cinder's hands and she began to soar around Amelie at blinding speeds, all while sending smaller fireballs at her. This forced Amelie to switch her strategy in turn and she began a serpentine motion around the small arena. Instinctively and utilizing her aura to sense the persistent bitch flying around her, she dove over a piece of debris as cover and in mid leap, turned around and landed a well-placed shot on Cinder's left shoulder, making the maiden land back on the battlefield.

Amelie ceased this opportunity and rushed Cinder and laid quick jabs and kicks all over the vile woman. To finish her onslaught, Amelie laid a heavy hit on Cinder where she just shot her and Cinder let out a disgruntled cry of pain. Cinder stumbled back a bit, now seething while Amelie was standing before her with a smirk.

"Fine." Cinder growled and formed her two blades out of nothing but fire. Without another remark, she bolted straight to the sniper and Amelie dodged one of the blades swiping millimeters away from her neck. Only to feel a burning slice on her right shoulder. Amelie jumped back with a yelp and readied her rifle. Cinder smirked and readied her blades for the oncoming attack from the arachnid themed sniper and stood still, anticipating the two or three shots about to head her way.

Confusion overtook Cinder for a split second when she saw Amelie grin at her position and before Cinder could realize what happened, she was being pelted by an onslaught of bullets. Automatic gunfire could be heard along with the chipping noise Cinder's aura. The Fall Maiden created a wall of fire blocking the flurry of rounds flying her way and made a pushing motion, causing the wall to be hurled towards Amelie. Instinctively, the sniper readied her rifle and made an aura infused leap over the firewall and loaded a high impact round.

Time seemed to go still as Amelie realized her mistake. The moment she cleared the wall she saw that Cinder had an arrow ready and now it was only a few feet away from hitting her face. In a last ditched attempt, Amelie maneuvered her body mid-air so that the arrow punctured her shoulder. Despite the pain though she still fired her bullet and was relieved to hear the sound of Cinder's aura shattering along with a cry of pain. Unfortunately, the arrow did the same for her and despite her enhanced agility and precise aiming, Amelie's aura was also fragile.

The sniper fell to the ground, clutching her shoulder and noticed her rifle was out of reach. She was about to get up and retrieve it, only to be harshly kicked in the side. Amelie looked up to see a furious Cinder with a disturbingly large graze across the left side of her face. She felt another kick but this time she was sent flying across the battlefield, possibly due to the fall maiden's aura. Either way, Amelie was sent at blinding speeds towards the edge of the tower but before she was sent off the edge, she fired her grapple hook and another device that fortunately Cinder failed to notice.

"It's a shame." Amelie heard Cinder said as she was looking down on the sniper that was hanging off the edge by her well-placed grapple shot. "You were quite the pawn when we had you. Now only to be wasted like this." Amelie gritted her teeth at both Cinder's remark and the burning sensation that was overcoming her shoulder. "However, it is fitting for a grim." This remark made Amelie go wide eyed with confusion and Cinder laughed at her reaction.

"Connect the dots. That substance that created grim is now in you and defiled your aura. You honestly thought you were human after what we did? Now that," Cinder readied her bow as she took aim at the horrified Amelie. "Is simply unfortunate."

"Oh Oum. Jaune." Amelie whispered, if she was considered a full grim by just a small amount of the substance.

Then what did that make him?

Unfortunately, her self-realization just loud enough for Cinder to hear and in return laughed at her reaction.

"He is even further gone than you will ever be. Considering that the main effect from the substance is disintegration, seeing that thing is a pure example of a man turning into beast." Amelie let out a gasp at this and Cinder's grin grew more wicked at this. "He will never be the same. His body has been defiled too far to even give him a sliver of a chance at becoming who he once was." with this Cinder drew her arrow and Amelie closed her eyes, waiting for the arrow to end her.

"What?"

Amelie saw that Cinder was now distracted. Even though she couldn't see her, Amelie knew it was the girl that took off on the rocket longer back at the colosseum. One of Jaune's closest friends at one point in time. Somehow, she got on top of the tower and Amelie was silently thanking the gods for this stroke of luck. Amelie brought her wrist gauntlet to her face and a holographic monitor appeared before her. She needed to thank Sombra for this upgrade when she got out of this.

"No." Amelie heard Ruby whimper. Apparently, she heard the last part about Jaune. Either way this was buying her needed time to get her small trump card ready. The same one that she launched along with her grapple. The loading completed and she saw a live feed from her little projectile that was now creeping behind the unsuspecting Cinder. She could also see the forming look of distraught on Ruby's face, coming to terms that Jaune was a grim. The camera was now a few feet from Cinder and Amelie slammed the launch button on her gauntlet. She looked up to see her spider drone leap onto Cinder's face and explode, covering the Fall Maiden's graze with a fume of venom toxin that was the combination of Amelie's and Jaune's aura. A cry of agony could be heard, followed by a shriek from Ruby.

"JAAAAUUUUNNEE!" a blinding flash of silver light engulfed the entire tower. The sheer force of the power made the cable Amelie was holding onto snap and the sniper was now in freefall. She was plummeting to her death while taking one last look above to see that the dragon that was spectating the entire fight slowly crystalizing under the immense brightness. Despite this awesome power, she was witnessing, it did not change the fact that she was now descending rapidly toward the ground and with no way of recovering. She put her arms in front of her and hoped that somehow the pain would be quick when she made contact.

Before she made contact though, she felt the exhilaration of falling cease and saw that she was hovering a few feet above the ground by a familiar smoke now setting her gently on the ground. Amelie let out a few more gasps of terror as she was grasping the fact that she was alive. Followed by her wincing in pain at her wounds.

"Are you okay?" She heard the familiar voice of her partner. She let out a sigh of relief to hear his voice, but almost not realizing something was off. She then looked up at her partner and her eyes widened.

"Jaune?"

 **So… I have been a way for a while. I could tell you all a story of why but instead I will be blunt and quick about this. Kidney stones, school, and writers block. And I want to say I'm sorry. I honestly hated keeping you all waiting due to it being an epic fighting chapter. Leaving you all hanging for so long truly pisses me off at myself for not getting it done sooner. Now will this almost three week break occur again? Most likely it won't. I went through the chaos of school already and have a clean bill of health. The next chapter will be out soon. No later than next week. I want to thank you all for being patient in this unsure time but I am glad to say that I will be continuing this story. It isn't dead. not by a long shot you beautiful people. Thanks goes out to SunwukongMogar for being my beta on this. Another announcement I want to tell you all is that a fellow writer BioshockerN7, was inspired by this story to make a Jaune/soldier 76 fic. I gave him the green light to do so and I highly recommend you all to check it out. Anyways drop a comment or review and as always beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF**


	22. Chapter 22

**Author Note at the end. Don't own RWBY or Overwatch. They are owned by the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. Enjoy.**

Chapter twenty-one

The Bonds That Make Us Who We Are

 **Flashback, Three months ago, undisclosed house in the outer reaches of Vale:**

 _"_ _Gah!" Jaune groaned as he hit the hot pavement for the hundredth time that hour. What made matters worse was that the feeling of falling apart every waking moment combined with the searing heat from the pavement created the feeling of being burned alive, making the blonde shoot up from his collapsed position._

 _"_ _And that makes one hundred." The grim voice of Gabriel Reyes said as he stood over the kneeling boy. Jaune gave him a glare in response which caused him to smirk at the boy. "I'll let you have a break." He told the mutilated blonde. Before Jaune could fully get up, he kneed the by in the gut which sent him back to the pavement. "If you can get pass me." A growl could be heard from Jaune as he got back into his fighting stance while Reyes followed suit._

 _Jaune swung a right hook at his trainer who simply ducked under and landed an uppercut. Jaune reeled back from the sting and looked at the man in front of him. "Tell me kid. Why are you even here?" Jaune looked at him with confusion but decided to play along with this conversation._

 _"_ _To get stronger." Jaune said with aggression as he attempted to land a roundhouse kick, only for his leg to be grabbed and wrapped around Reyes's arm. He then laid a devastating blow to his kneecap and because of how fragile Jaune was on a cellular level, his lower leg was ripped off._

 _"_ _GAAAAAHH." Jaune let out a somewhat short but blood chilling scream as the cells regenerated and his leg became whole._

 _"_ _I can see that, and to be honest it's kind of pathetic. But that's not what I meant. I meant why are you here. From what you said to me not too long ago, you said you fell in a pit that spawned grim. So, my question is. Why are you even here? To get some redemption like a half assed hero?" Reyes followed up his question with a solid kick to Jaune's laying form. A grunt was heard followed by silence from the blonde._

 _"_ _No." Reyes heard the kid grumble at his feet, staggering once more to get up. Despite the disgusting deterioration, Reyes could see something within him._

 _"_ _I don't want to be a hero." Jaune said as he followed with a vicious one two combo to Reyes's stomach. His eyes widened at the sudden burst of strength. "All I have done was try and survive. Try and make it to the next day. That's what it was like at Beacon." The two were at a standoff now in the blistering sun. The training area at Reyes's house in the abandoned part of Vale was coated in heat and the sweat from the two was testament to that._

 _"_ _Sounds like hell." Reyes said with a smirk and Jaune returned his little gesture._

 _"_ _It was. But now this isn't survival. It's retaliation." The second that Jaune said this Reyes's eyes widened while his smirk twisted a bit._

 _"_ _So, this is payback then." Reyes received only a nod._

 _"_ _And you want to hurt the ones that did this to you?" another nod._

 _"_ _Even kill them?" Jaune's smirk was now on equal levels with Reyes._

 _"_ _More than you can imagine." Jaune said. Reyes then let out a quick chuckle and got back into a fighting stance._

 _"_ _Then get pass me." He said while seeing fire in the blonde's eyes. Not a fire that the righteous have. If it could be described in one word, "Hellfire" would fit. Jaune charged at him with full speed and full ferocity and right when Reyes's fist made contact with the knight's face, Jaune dissipated into a thick black smoke and slowly phased through him. Returning to his current state only seconds later. Before Jaune could even comprehend what had even happened he heard slow clapping from behind him._

 _"_ _Nice. Very nice." Reyes said with a grin and Jaune looked at him with confusion. "It seems that your got the hang of that smoke now." As he said this Jaune's arm swirled into a black cloud of smoke and Jaune nodded at this. "Take it easy kid, training's over for today. You're still getting used to the pain anyway." Jaune nodded once more before looking out in the direction where Vale was. Reyes caught on to this and he couldn't tell if it was anger or sadness in the kid's eyes. "I know what it's like." This caught Jaune's attention. "Being the outcast let alone a monster is something we have in common." Jaune gave him a questioning look while Reyes chuckled. "Eh don't worry about it. They may have left you but I'll be looking out for ya kid. Always will." Skepticism was now apparent which caused Reyes to laugh now. "Don't read too much into it. Now go on. I think Sombra's coming back with some more intel anyway." Jaune smirked and gave him a two-finger wave while walking back to the rotting house, not noticing the minuscule, red tinge his smoke had, the sickening grin coming from his mentor, and the small whispers of smoke coming from him as well._

"Jaune?" that was the word that snapped him out of his sudden memory. He looked down to his arms and saw that Pyrrha was holding on to him tightly.

As they slowly descended from the tower. Smoke and ashes could be seen throughout beacon and Vale and the sight sent a jolt of fear into the champion's heart. Now concerned if her team and friends were alright. She looked at Jaune and despite his deforming face, he saw the look of worry.

"I told Ren and Nora to evacuate with the rest of them. They're probably at the evacuation sights or refugee camps at the moment." his raspy voice soothed her concern as they continued their gentle descent. Pyrrha became confused though as she noticed that they weren't heading toward the docks.

"Jaune. Where are we going?" her only response this time was silence but she could see the growing look of anger on her former partner's face as he kept his gaze forward. Pyrrha followed his gaze and her eyes widened as they were soon arriving to a place she hadn't visited in months. A place that plagued her memory of what she called the beginning of the end.

The rooftop where it all began.

As they landed, Jaune set Pyrrha down and before the champion could react, Jaune's fist collided with her face.

"All those years of training you put in." He growled and followed with another punch. Pyrrha was too dazed and shocked to read the incoming blows. "All of your time becoming the person you are now. All of your hopes and dreams." He landed another punch in her gut and an exasperated gasp could be heard as Pyrrha had the wind knocked out of her. She couldn't even fall to her knees before she felt Jaune's hand grasp her neck. "AND YOU WERE GOING TO THROW IT ALL AWAY?!" Jaune channeled his aura into his forearm and threw Pyrrha across the roof. She rolled across the cement for a few moments before struggling to get back up. "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WERE ABOUT TO THROW AWAY EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU WHO YOU ARE?!" he roared at her beaten form and saw that she was slowly getting up from his sudden onslaught.

"Jaune, I didn't have a choice." She said calmer than expected. As if this was a planned response.

"Bullshit." Jaune growled as he kept a cold glare on her. "You and I both know that you had a chance to say no. So, what made you say yes to Ozpin's offer?" Pyrrha was now up and staring at his menacing form and with a shaky breath, she composed herself and gave him a determined look.

"He told me that I would have the power to protect the ones that need it, and the power to…" Her determined look soon degraded into doubt when Jaune cocked an eyebrow.

"To bring me back?" he finished her sentence and the only response Pyrrha could muster was a nod, which in returned earned a short chuckle from her former partner. "You honestly believed him?" he pressed on and saw how uncomfortable she became. He grinned at this and decided to keep going. "You honestly think Ozpin wanted you to become the Fall Maiden just so you and your team could get me back? Pyrrha he was USING YOU." Anger was now apparent on the champion's face and she took a step forward.

"I KNEW THAT!" she screamed. Yet, Jaune remained unfazed. "I… I just wanted you back Jaune. I wanted to be Team JNPR again. I wanted you to lead us again." At this point, tears began to fall from Pyrrha's face as Jaune kept his gaze on her. "I wanted my partner back." an eerie silence befell the two facing one another on the rooftop after a few moments, Jaune broke the silence with a soft sigh.

"Pyrrha, let me ask you this. What do you think would happen to me if I surrendered? I can't go to the huntsmen, I can't go to the authorities, and I can't even go home. If I went to any of them I would be locked up for the rest of my life." He then lifted one of his hands to show the smoke swirling around it, "I have too much blood on my hands as it is. You honestly think that people will welcome me back?" Pyrrha's intense glare returned but with this time with a mix of desperation and determination.

"If you go to the public about what happe-"

"No one would listen Pyrrha." Jaune cut her off and he matched her glare. "All they see is a god damn psychopath and that's how it's going to be." Pyrrha saw that his hands tightened and his teeth were grinding against each other. "Face it Pyrrha. I. CAN'T. COME. BACK." he knew that each word was a verbal stab to her heart. Her shattered look was proof to that. "Your partner died three months ago, when he fell to his death while being beaten, stabbed, and strangled all at once. What came out of that shithole is something that's going enjoy seeing most of Remnant burn." Pyrrha was now at her breaking point and at that moment a voice broke through the battle below that was taking place.

"THEN WHY SPARE ME?!" her outburst echoed through the slowly waning night. "WHY KEEP ME ALIVE IF JAUNE ARC IS DEAD?! WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL ME AT THE CCT?! WHY BRING ME HERE JAUNE?!" she finished with a few gasps of air mixed with sobs and looked up to see Jaune with his arms folded. His cloak flowing with the fall breeze. His gaze was still fixed on her but with a softer tone.

"To save you from her." Jaune said and Pyrrha grew confused. "JNPR had lost one member already and I refused to let it lose another member. As for sparing you back then… it's because you are one of the few that I believe deserve to live. You, Ren, Nora, Ruby, CFVY, SSSN, the Arcs. People like them. People like you deserve to live." Jaune said while noticing that Pyrrha refused to now make eye contact with him.

"And what about the rest?" she somewhat growled and Jaune cocked his eyebrow once more.

"I think you know that answer Pyrrha." He said and her fists tightened. "As for bringing you here, consider this my way of saying goodbye." Pyrrha's eyes widened at this while Jaune continued on. "After everything that's happened, I doubt Beacon will be back up and running once again. The White Fang are regrouping and things that neither of us know about are stirring into chaos. And I'm not planning on staying in Vale while that is happening. So consider this my farewell." He walked forward a bit to get around his partner but she refused to stay out of his way.

"And leave everything behind?" She growled and he nodded. Instantly her fist flew at his degrading face, the little remnants of her aura caused him to feel it and he stumbled back a bit. "I refuse to let that happen Jaune. I'm not going to let you just go away." He noticed that despite her beaten form and with no weapons, she shifted into her fighting stance and saw a look of raw determination. "I WILL NOT LOSE YOU AGAIN." Jaune was slightly taken aback by this sudden conviction and stared at her for a few seconds. He then held out his arm and smoke began to form in his hand. Pyrrha grew confused at this and her eyes widened when she saw that Jaune had summoned Crocea Mors. Before she could say anything, Jaune tossed her the weapon and she barley caught it, feeling the foreign yet familiar weight to it. She looked back up to Jaune and saw that he had summoned his two shot guns.

"The least I can do is make it a fair fight." he said as the shotguns shifted back into two machetes. A look of horror appeared on the Spartans face while Jaune's remained unreadable. He began to walk right toward her and at that exact moment when Pyrrha saw Jaune Arc approaching her, weapons in his hands with the intent to kill her.

Was when her world shattered.

She knew that he wasn't going to spare her this time. He was going to drive those two blades into her if she didn't do the one thing she never wanted to do. the one thing she dreaded to do since she discovered who this reaper in front of her really was.

Fight him.

"Jaune please." She somewhat begged. His old weapon was trembling in her hands as he kept walking toward her. "Jaune we don't have to do this. I don't want to fight you." She noticed that he showed no emotion toward her pleas and the moment he got in range of her, one of his blades was raised over her head. He sliced down with a sudden force of malice. Operating on instinct alone, Pyrrha activated the shield function and took the blow with full force. She looked passed the shield and despite the struggle in strength, his face remained neutral. With a growingly loud battle cry, she used the shield to shove Jaune back. He stumbled a bit and but instantly locked eyes with the semi terrified champion. She felt that blow in full and that was the proof that showed how Jaune wasn't holding back.

"Either you let me pass or we fight. either way I will be leaving tonight." Jaune stated and saw that the champion drew Crocea Mors from the shield and he internally sighed. "Alright then." He said and proceeded to charge forward. Pyrrha followed suit and their blades soon collided. Jaune used his remaining blade for a low strike, only for it to be blocked with Pyrrha's shield. She followed this block with a thrust towards Jaune's chest and for the first time since Pyrrha had seen Jaune like this, he dodged the strike. He didn't use his smoke to phase through it like she had seen before.

"Your aura. Remember?" she heard Jaune say. "Even if it is low, it still puts the smoke at bay." Her eyes widened slightly at this before following with a horizontal strike. Jaune parried the swing with one of his machetes and thrusted the other at her neck. With what remaining aura she had left, she used her polarity to barely dodge the oncoming swing. However, she didn't foresee the oncoming kick that impacted her square in the chest that caused her to tumble backwards. Jaune used this opportunity to stab down at her prone form but was caught off guard by Pyrrha windmill kicking her surrounding axis, creating a barrier of sorts before she recovered to her feet.

"You know I didn't want to do this." he said as he circled her stationary form. Twirling one of his machetes in his hands he then glared at her. "But it seems you've made up your mind to be in my way." He swung an overhead strike which she caught with her shield. She grunted at the weight of both the strike and shield, but she stood firm and shoved the blade off. She swung at his neck and noticed as he ducked, he had his blades close to his chest with a pouncing intent. Instead of running she once more used her shield. With arm growing weak and the sudden force of both blades, her grip loosened which cause the shield to go flying a few feet out of reach. Jaune used this dazed moment to his advantage and dropped his blades to grab her head and slamming it against his own.

Pyrrha cried in pain as she recoiled back. Falling to one knee, she saw that Jaune was standing over her with a trail of blood mixing with his aura. Pyrrha internally smirked, knowing now that she could actually hurt him without his aura protecting him. She saw him about to kick her further into the ground, but caught his leg just in time and pulling him inward while delivering a few punches to his stomach with her shield arm. She winced at the shockingly painful response from her throbbing hand. In return Jaune landed a solid strike to her left cheek and she stumbled back.

In a last ditched attempt to gain some space between her and Jaune, she threw the kite shield just like how she would with Akuko, only for Jaune to roll out of the sudden projectile. In those distracted moments though, Pyrrha rushed forward with what remaining strength she had left and gripped Crocea Mors with both hands. She was just above him now and swung down with an overhead strike. Jaune brought both of his blades up in a crossed formation to catch the sword, but he didn't expect her to use her polarity to enforce the impact, causing him to disarm one of his blades. He grunted at the graze on his wrist before using his free arm to land a straight punch to her face. Pyrrha gave a sharp cry and in turn dropped the sword. Jaune then invaded her space and thrusted the blade overhead, aiming at her chest.

With only a split second to react and all the pain ringing in her head, Pyrrha barely blocked it with her shield arm. Her forearm was the only thing preventing the blade from driving through her chest. The two were now in a struggle and while Jaune was much more superior in raw strength at the moment, Pyrrha was giving it her all plus with the added help from her semblance. She gritted her teeth as she made eye contact with her former partner. The two were at this standstill for what felt like an eternity for the champion but in actuality, was only a few seconds until Pyrrha saw Jaune give her a sickening smirk. Before she could process what was happening, she felt a sharp pain pierce through her aura and into her left side of the pelvic region. She looked up in a painful daze and saw that Jaune had let go of the matchete and caught it with his other hand. She coughed up a bit of blood and fell back down to both her knees, attempting to get back up, but to no avail.

"Like I said before. Either way, I was leaving here." she heard Jaune say above her. Pyrrha noticed that he was now crouching to her level and she then felt him lift her chin up. "It was your choice if you wanted to get out of this alive or not." her mind was racing at this point. She saw the deteriorating face staring back at her with no emotion and all she wanted was to beg or say anything that could make him change his mind. Make him quit this madness and quit being this monster she was staring at. That is until a sharp thought pierced her mind. That all this time he was saying that this was her choice. Her choice to stay and fight him. This thought brought her back to the memory of her conversation with Ozpin. The same one that convinced her to become the Fall Maiden.

With all of this in mind she looked at him straight into his crimson irises and disregarding his previous statement, she decided to ask him the one thing that was troubling her for so long.

"Jaune. Do you believe in destiny?" it was then her former partner's eyes widened slightly and she decided to go on. "Do you believe that you were always going to become this? That this." she lifted one of her hands and gestured to his form. "Was your final outcome? That Nora, Ren, Ruby, or even I were only in your way? Is that all we are to you Jaune? Some obstacles blocking your destiny?" she finished her demanding question with a few heavy breaths before hanging her head in exhaustion. She became worried for a few moments though when she received no response. Confused by this, Pyrrha lifted her head once more and saw that Jaune was standing over her. His machete was shaking violently in his hand while now having a look of pure rage.

"I can't believe you." She heard Jaune whisper. "YOU HONESTLY THINK I WANTED TO BE LIKE THIS PYRRHA?! TO KILL HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE?! YOU THINK THAT I WAS DESTINED TO BE TORN APART FROM YOU AND MY FRIENDS?! TO BE DRIVEN TO THE POINT OF GOD DAMN INSANITY AND BECOME A FUCKING MONSTER?!" He roared with a malicious intent. Pyrrha was taken aback by the sudden outburst and grew worried at his livid red eyes piercing into her. "I told you here." he growled as he gestured to the damaged roof around them. "That all I wanted was to be a hero. The exact opposite of what I am now. So, to answer," his glare grew in intensity which caused a jolt of fear to run through her body. "Absolutely not." she saw then that his machete shifted back into a gun and he raised it at her forehead. She heard the safety be disengaged and the hammer being cocked back. the sudden coolness of the barrel was pressed against her head, just below her circlet. Unlike the time before at the CCT though, she stared intently at him as he reciprocated with his same glare.

The two stayed in this position for a few minutes. The distant sounds of war and the growls coming from the grim barely filled the immense void of silence. Neither of them moving or breaking the silence. Pyrrha returned to a stoic but determined look while staring down the barrel of Jaune's gun and she began to notice that the gun was slightly shaking. She looked up to see that Jaune now was dawning a conflicted look. Soft grunts of discomfort and doubt could be barely heard from the reaper and Pyrrha was now looking at him somewhat concerned.

"Just do it." She heard him whisper to himself as she saw the grip tighten on his shotgun. "C'mon." the stress in his voice added with his shaking becoming more intense only amplified the conflict residing within him. Pyrrha soon realized this and she felt a pain in her heart. She knew that if Jaune went through with killing her, then in a way he would be killing himself. That for some reason their auras were linked and if he killed her, Jaune Arc would be no more, and the only thing left would be Reaper.

The question being did he even want to be Reaper?

It was in these moments that Pyrrha's raw survival instincts went into overdrive and with every fiber of her being, she reached under his arm that was holding the shotgun. The sudden action made him fire into the air. The booming noise nearly deafened the champion, but she still pressed on and before he could push her back, Pyrrha used her other arm to wrap him around her and pulled him in tightly.

"What are you-" Jaune was cut off and his eyes widened in horror as he heard Pyrrha begin to speak.

"For it is in passing, we achieve immortality." A burning sensation began to fill Jaune slowly and he began to resist, but somehow, Pyrrha's grip stayed strong. "Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul" Jaune could feel the burning rise in intensity and he let out an agonizing cry. He looked back to Pyrrha and saw that her aura or what little aura she had left was illuminating around her and making his smoke go into a violent frenzy. He saw that her eyes were closed. Her focused expression with the amplifying pain was slowly putting him into a panic.

"PYRRHA! LET GO!" he screamed but he saw that his protests were being ignored. Her grip tightened and saw that her aura was merging with his.

"And by my shoulder, PROTCT THEE!" she roared the last few words and Jaune felt a relentless flood of aura invade his body. The familiar feeling of the relentless inferno festering within him returned. He felt as if he was falling apart back in the void of the grim pit but instead of darkness, all he could see and feel was a deep crimson enveloping him. The blistering sensation continued and with one last push, he felt the rest Pyrrha's aura invade his body and it was then that he couldn't take it anymore.

His smoke was swirling at a blinding rate now and the intense speed sent Pyrrha flying back. The champion was physically and mentally drained, but staggered to her feet. She saw Jaune writhing back in forth. Letting out blood curdling cries and before she could even take a step forward, she saw a bright light illuminate in the smoke. That light enveloped the whole rooftop which caused Pyrrha to cover her eyes. The light lasted for a few moments before dying down. Pyrrha opened her eyes to see what had truly happened. Her eyes darted all across the rooftop, looking for Jaune and when she saw him, she gasped and held her hands to her mouth.

A few feet in front of her was Jaune kneeling down. Heavy panting could be heard but what made tears brim in her eyes was that it wasn't the bone chilling voice that belonged to the reaper. It was the voice that belonged to Jaune Arc. She saw that the smoke was non-existent and she didn't see him falling apart. She saw his familiar face with his sapphire eyes now staring back into her emerald ones. Neither said a word for a few moments until Jaune stood up. Not a single hint of showing any smoke or deterioration. A glimmer of hope resided within the weary champion and she reached out to him, hoping with all her heart that he could finally come back. To Beacon, to her team, and to her. Her dream came to reality the moment she was wrapped in a hug and felt the hot tears fall from Jaune and down to her neck.

"It's gone." He said with a chocked laugh. "The pain is gone." She smiled at these words that came out of his mouth. The elation that was intertwined with each of them showed how much relief she just gave him despite those few moments of agony. She was happy at that moment. Finally, after all these terrible months, things could finally start to go back to normal.

That is until she heard the familiar sound of his weapon shifting.

She didn't have the strength nor speed to see Jaune raise his blade over her and in an instant, she felt the blunt impact of the hilt slam into the side of her head. There were a few moments when she was falling to the floor. In those moments, he was giving her a genuine smile. Tears were apparent and it looked as if his current state was a combination of happiness, and sorrow.

"Jau…" she couldn't finish her sentence as her eyelids shut and she passed out from both the strike and the exhaustion. Now laid gently on the roof with her former partner standing over her.

Jaune stared intently at her. Despite what she did, even if she put him through the same pain he went through when he first got this power, now it was gone. That irritating agony that followed him everywhere. The hideous deformity was nonexistent and he had her aura to thank. Just like her small doses in the syringes, her aura seemed to be holding him together of sorts. But now, he had just received a massive dose from the source herself and he had no idea how long this would last. He then looked over Pyrrha's form and crouched next to her while grabbing Crocea Mors and intertwining the weapon within her arms.

"Consider it a thank you gift." He said to her slumbering form while feeling around her person until he found her scroll. He sent a message to Nora, Ren, and Ruby. Telling them where Pyrrha was and that she was okay. He shut the scroll and placed it back on her, making sure not to disturb her too much. He then looked out to the tower and could see some bursts of flames along with the massive dragon overlooking the fight. Jaune internally sighed as he knew that the night was far from over.

He went over to pick up his remaining shotgun but before he could touch it. The weapon dissipated in smoke. His eyes widened when he saw the smoke travel back to him and having the weapon formed in his hand. He became puzzled at this due to the other times he was injected with Pyrrha's aura, that denied his smoke from existing. The other factor that confused him was that there was a red tinge to his smoke now. Small strands of crimson danced with the smoke as he marveled at the new discovery. Even though his pain and degrading appearance were gone, he still retained his smoke form. He couldn't help but laugh a bit at this while heading towards the edge of the roof. He looked back at Pyrrha one last time. He gave her a soft, sorrowful smile, knowing that this was the last time Pyrrha would see the remaining fragments of the Jaune she knew. All before dissipating into the wind, heading back to the tower where Amelie was fighting for her life.

 **Present time with Jaune and Amelie:**

The sniper looked up at her partner who now was no longer disintegrating with an immense amount of confusion. He seemed to pick up on it and chuckled a bit.

"Long story. But let's just say that I don't feel the pain anymore." He said in somewhat relieved tone and she gave him a smirk, showing that she was happy for him. "So, what happened up there?" he asked as the two looked up to see the massive dragon grim solidified into solid stone. He noticed that she let out a breath he assumed she didn't know she was holding.

"Your red hooded friend." She said which made Jaune look at her with confusion. "I didn't see what happened. All I could see is that a silver light engulfed the tower when she found out that you… that we…" Amelie began to trail off, not knowing how to tell him what Cinder had told her on the tower.

"That we're grim?" he asked and her eyes went wide. "Your mic was on the whole fight. I heard what she said when I was making my way back." Amelie gave him a concerned look after he said this. "Right now, it doesn't matter. We'll talk about it later. The first thing we need to do is regroup with Sombra." Amelie nodded at this and began to head to the docks. She was a few feet in front of him before she noticed that he hadn't moved. Instead, she saw him looking back at the school. A certain section which seemed to be a small rooftop to be exact. She walked back to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked and Jaune gave her a nod in return. He spent a few more seconds staring intently at that specific rooftop before turning to the docks along with Amelie who swore on her life that she saw a tear fall from his cheek.

 **Outskirts of Vale:**

"About damn time you two." Sombra said as she was leaning against an abandoned building. The sounds of the battlefield were dying down in the background and hints of orange could be seen in the night sky, indicating that dawn was approaching. The two that walked up to her were bruised and somewhat beaten, but seemed to be satisfied on tonight's outcomes for them.

"Sorry about that." Jaune told her with some sincerity and Sombra looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"I don't know what I find more disturbing. That your back to normal or that you're actually acting less of a dick." This quip from Sombra caused the two partners to chuckle a bit.

"Anyways, did you get what was needed from the safe house?" Jaune asked and Sombra rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Yeah. Everything is loaded in the bullhead. Honestly how the hell did you smuggle one of those things all the way out here." another chuckle could be heard from Jaune.

"One of the perks of being the enforced boss of an arms dealer. I forced Roman pulled a few strings before he went off the rails and got locked up." Sombra and Amelie nodded at this and the group then headed to the bullhead.

"So where to next?" Amelie asked. Jaune gave a smirk before looking forward once more.

"I hear Mistral is quite nice around this time of year."

#

 **Island of Patch with Ruby:**

Ruby Rose woke up to the sound of the fall morning air chilling her bones. She struggled to open her eyes but after a few minutes, she succeeded and began to look around. She soon realized that she was in her old bedroom back in Patch. A sense of relief and also soreness engulfed her entire body, knowing that the battle was over.

"Ruby!" she heard a voice call out and she saw that it was her father with a look of joy in his eyes. He rushed over to her and wrapped her in his embrace, to which she winced at due to her sore body. "I am so glad you're alright." She reciprocated the hug and when they pulled apart, Taiyang noticed she looked really confused.

"Dad. What happened?" Taiyang soon dawned a solemn look while kneeling at the side of her bed.

"During the battle, Beacon tower fell. The CCTs are down and communication is now limited." Ruby's eyes widened at this. "But from what we can see, you really did a number on that dragon." Ruby grew confused at this

"What do you mean? I did a number on it how?" She noticed that her father closed his eyes in what seemed to be frustration for a second before looking back at her.

"Listen, we can talk about that later, just… right now, everything is kind of a mess." Taiyang responded.

"It's always a mess." The two both looked to see where the familiar voice was coming from and they both saw Qrow at the doorframe, downing the rest of whatever he had in his flask. "Mind if we have a minute?" Taiyang grew irritated at this.

"What I can't talk to my daughter?" he questioned until he saw the look Qrow was giving him.

"Tai. Please." This caused Ruby's father to sigh a bit. He kissed Ruby's forehead and headed out, but not before giving Qrow a slight glare. Qrow shrugged it off and pulled up a chair that he soon sat down in.

"So how are you feeling?" he asked as he folded his arms.

"I kinda hurt all over." Ruby sheepishly replied, which caused her uncle to chuckle.

"That makes sense. Considering what you did back at Beacon." He noticed as he said this, Ruby grew frustrated.

"What are you talking about?! Everyone is saying I did a number on that thing! What did I do?!" her outburst didn't seem to affect her uncle as he simply leaned forward.

"Ruby. What was the last thing that you remember?" Qrow asked. This made Ruby go deep into thought.

"I… Was running up the side of the tower, I thought I was going to save Pyrrha." She started which only peaked her uncle's interest.

"Then what?"

"She wasn't there. I saw Cinder looking over the edge of the tower. She was fighting that woman that was with Ja-" she gasped in realization. Everything she had heard on top of the tower came flooding back to her. "JAUNE! Is he-" she saw the somber expression in her uncles eyes and he leaned back a bit.

"There was no trace of him. We sent search parties into Beacon and found his old partner. He actually sent us a tip on where to find her too." He chuckled a bit, not knowing how a monster like him could be compassionate to call help for someone who tried to stop him. "She's okay now, but the kid is gone. Disappeared from Vale apparently." Ruby's hands tightened around her blanket as tears soon began to brim in her eyes. "What did Cinder do up there Ruby?" she looked at him with a sadness he had only seen once in his life. The last time he saw it was when Summer gave him that look all those years ago.

"She said that the stuff that turned Jaune into what he was… was the same thing that creates grim." Qrow's eyes widened slightly at this. "She said that both that blue woman and Jaune were now grim because of it, but because Jaune fell into one of them, that he was even more of a monster that the grim will ever be." Tears began to stream down her face as her uncle pulled her into a gentl hug. He would be lying if he told her that he understood. How could he understand. The one person that cared for her that wasn't family was now a physical and metaphorical monster. How could say that he knew what that felt like? "Then everything went white." It was then that Qrow smirked. He knew what he needed to say next.

#

As the months went by and fall slowly morphed into winter, the world had changed with it, and not for the better. Soon after the fall of Beacon, small outbursts of violence were seen throughout the entire world of Remnant. The Arcs were true to their word on how war was coming, even if a disaster had just struck one of the hearts of the kingdoms. Pandemonium ensued all over the world especially in the outer regions of Atlas, their main target and they were slowly closing in on the center of the kingdom. The widespread fear that ensued also attracted the grim which caused many settlements to fall and be destroyed. Homes were lost, lives were taken, and the world would never be the same.

It had been a month since it all started and snow had once again come to Patch. Outside wooden house stood Ruby Rose, slowly closing the door behind her. Once it was shut, she let out a sigh of relief and turned around and gave a gentle smile.

"Hello." She heard a familiar voice say.

"Hey Pyrrha." Ruby replied and said and saw that the champion had a soft, but somber expression. Akuko was placed on her back but Ruby noticed the familiar sword/shield combo strapped to her waste.

"Haven is a long way ahead." Pyrrha nodded at this. "And you're sure you want to come along?"

"The road may be perilous." she heard Ren say with his arms folded behind him. "And whether we find answers is entirely uncertain."

"But we wouldn't be here if we weren't up for it." Nora finished and Ruby then looked back at Pyrrha, who gave a small smile.

"It's the only lead we have." She said and Ruby looked back down at the gold engraving of the Arcs, which seemed to shine back at her. Ruby grinned and looked at them all.

"Then let's get moving." She said as they all started to walk down the snowy path. Unsure of what was to come, but if what her uncle said was true, then that the world wasn't done changing for the worse. And Mistral was the only place they knew that had some if any answers waiting for them. perhaps even a way to make things right again.

And not just for them.

 **Unknown location in the region of Anima:**

Three figures were slumbering in the hull of a bullhead that was depleted of fuel. Since night was now upon them, they decided that staying there would be the wiser decision. All of them now were fast asleep, mentally preparing themselves for the journey tomorrow. One distinct detail could be seen though as the blonde one of their group was shifting somewhat violently in his. Disgruntled noises could be heard from him as he was now desperately trying to wake up from his dream.

That dream consisted of him being trapped in a dark void. The same exact one that he fell into all those months ago. But this time, a menagerie of distorted red eyes were all fixed on him while a row of jagged teeth gave him a sickening grin. He tried to struggle. To get out of this nightmare but despite his efforts, he remained suspended in the nothingness.

 **"** **Don't worry."** He saw that the massive monstrosity say. **"** **You and I are going to cleanse this world."** The blonde struggled some more until he heard it laugh manically and red strands of smoke began to entangle him. **"** **After all, I'm just looking out for ya kid. And I Always will."**

 **So that's it. Arc two is over and I hope you enjoyed it. Now onto the issue that has transpired. I said it would come out next week…. Three weeks ago. I know I'm going to get some flak for it. All I can say is that I dropped the ball. Not going to sugarcoat it with an excuse. I screwed up made you all wait longer. I am sorry and I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen again.**

 **So in response to this. This story is going on hiatus. (Sees an armada of bastions surround me) ….for two weeks. I KNOW! I KNOW! But I need to get some priorities in order. I thought I could handle school along with chapters and I couldn't. So to fix this, Arc three will have a strict agenda. Every Wednesday there will be a chapter. It may be slower but personally it feels better than complete randomness. Another thing I will do is during spring break or summer, I will do the occasional "Bombs" where I drop a slew of chapters in a row. But that's not until much later. I hope that's a better plan.**

 **So to finish this up, and since everyone has been really patient, I want to let you all know that I have another story in the making and it is a crossover involving Jaune. I won't tell you what the crossover is though. Where's the fun in that? With that said thank you for the support. I am happy to see that so many people are liking this and I hope you continue my work in the future. Leave a comment or review and as always you beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	23. Chapter 23

**So this took longer than I planned. It went through a few rewrites and I finally got it down. I know its late, but here it is. In the mean time, I am about to take the Rights to RWBY and Overwatch. They are sooooo close!**

 **Yang: There he is!**

 **Sparky: OH SHIT!**

 **Blake: You made us monsters!**

 **Weiss: Kill him!**

 **Sparky: IT'S CALLED EXPERIMENTATION! AND KILLING ME WILL ONLY MAKE IT WORSE FOR YOU THREE! Anyways, I don't own Rwby or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Roodster Teeth, and Blizzard. Enjoy!**

Chapter twenty-two

The first steps

The deep hues of purple and red engulfed the landscape that had a barren aspect to it. The arid flatlands were all covered with spots of complete darkness however and in said pits there was movement. In these disturbing moments, a gelatinous mass formed outside of the pit until the silhouette was formed into a monstrous hand. That hand grasped the edge of the pit and made its way out onto the ground. The rest of the mass began to form as well and in a matter of moments, the mass morphed into a Beowolf that let out its first howl along with the other countless grim that had just spawned.

Emerald and Mercury looked on at the scene before them in a mixture of horror and disgust. Their attention however was called by a snap of Cinder's fingers. The two made their way to her and were now standing by her seated position in front of three others. Emerald unexpectedly shoved Mercury gently to make room for herself that got both on edge.

"Ah yes do keep your posse in check." The mustached man known as Watts said to them with a smug tone. Mercury curled his fists in anger but before he could do anything, Emerald intervened. Both lackeys were now looking at Cinder for any directions but she too remained silent.

"See that? Silence." Watts spat while grabbing the attention of Hazel, his burly associate that sat next to him. "I have half the mind to thank the failed test subject and the little girl that bested you." Cinder did what she could to ignore the pathetic yet true remark from him.

"If I were you I'd hunt her down. The silver eyes and my little spider." Tyrian who sat to her right said while licking his lips at the last part. "find her and… well, they took your eye, didn't they?" he finished with an unwelcoming grin which was soon followed by a sickening laughter. Cinder seemed to only stare at him with boredom before trying to speak her mind. Only for strangled gasps to escape her mouth.

"Pathetic." Watts stated with an eye roll. Why did you eve-" his insult was cut short though as the entrance to the hall made a noise. The doors opened to reveal a woman taller than any of them. Her skin was decorated with dark veins that somewhat had a design to them. Her eyes were a deep crimson as she stared straight ahead. Her motions caused her deep red and black cloak to flutter gently, imitating the act of hovering towards her destination which seemed to be the dark candles at the end of the room. She looked at them for a few moments, letting the silence amplify her presence while the others stood out of respect.

"Watts." She said flatly. "You find such malignance necessary?" silence once again echoed through the hall. She gestured them all to sit in their respective seats as she too sat at the head of the table.

"My apologies ma'am." Watts said sincerely. "I'm not particularly fond of failure." he seemed to deliberately spit that last remark toward Cinder and Salem noticed this.

"Then I see no reason for your cruelty towards young Cinder." She said as she looked at the disfigured Fall Maiden. "She has become our Fall Maiden, destroyed Beacon Tower, and most importantly," a slight grin cracked along her face. "Killed dear Ozpin. So, I am curious." Her grin faded as she somewhat glared at Watts. "to what failures are you referring?" the participants in this conversation were all focused on Watts now.

"Well." Watts said as he composed himself. "The girl with the silver eyes." it was then that Hazel was at full attention.

"Yes." He said with a gruff voice. We've dealt with their kind before. How is it that a novice bested one of us?" Watts grinned at the support.

"My thoughts exactly." Watts added. "Even without her new power, it should have been effortless." Salem simply looked at him with a flat expression.

"While you may be correct on the topic of the silver eyed girl, both of you are wrong on the other accounts." Salem said while ignoring the confusion that dawned on everyone. "The silver eyes were an added bonus to our enemies. The reason that Cinder was bested was because she underestimated our failed experiment." Realization dawned on them and in turn, Watts's reaction was nothing but a chuckle.

"You mean to say that a genetic and neurological failure such as Amelie Lacroix bested her? Does that not support my claim on her failures?" Salem's eyes narrowed toward her servant. The outcome was that his bravado diminished before her eyes.

"What it means is that we have more issues to deal with. We were blindsided by thinking Ozpin was the only enemy to our goals. Cinder is not at fault for the sudden interventions that had transpired." She once more looked at Cinder. "Regardless of the unexpected variables, one thing is clear is that Cinder is the key to us overruling Haven Academy. The only drawback is that there is a crucial weakness to the Maiden's powers. So, in the meantime, she will be staying by my side." Cinder solemnly nodded at this and Salem grinned. "Now that we have established that, there is a goliath in the room that needs to be squashed. The existence of this so-called Reaper." The room grew silent once more at this due to the fury that Salem had towards him since his first appearance. All of them had to deal with an agitated and fearful ruler of grim due to that thorn in her side.

"It shouldn't be too hard now." Watts said while trying to defuse the anger that was growing within their master. "From what we have discovered through personal backgrounds is that he was the black sheep of Beacon. Barely able to fight and from what was last known, a weak mental state." Surprisingly, the one to interject was Hazel.

"Let me ask you something Watts. Does your info also include the fact that he mutilated one of the head field commanders of the White Fang? I'm sure you archived the image that was sent out to every scroll." Watts grew Silent once more as Hazel scoffed. "Sienna Khan was an annoyance to deal with after that happened and I am certain no amateur can pull off something like that." Salem nodded at the advocacy that Hazel produced.

"Not to mention my little spider has joined him." Tyrian pouted after he said this which caused Salem to be deep in thought. a few moments passed until her eyes illuminated red and a full grin appeared on her face.

"Tyrian. I want you to locate the silver eyed girl and update me on her whereabouts. Do not kill her." Tyrian's pout grew larger at this new objective. "After that, I want you to rendezvous with Hazel in Mistral. From what we know from our friendly info brokers is that an unregistered bullhead flew out in that direction. Considering that that the only one that was taken out of our inventory was the same one that was stolen by Reaper, I can assume his team is heading there as well." The pout morphed into a smirk which was followed by a chuckle coming from Tyrian. Salem's glare hardened however. "Under no circumstances are you to take him on alone. Either of you." She gestured toward the burly man as well. "We know little about him as it is so rushing in is suicide for either of you. And I believe your presence will give us an edge as well against dear Amelie." Tyrian nodded excitedly at this. "Watts, I also need you to reach our informant there as well." A solemn nod came from him as well and Salem then stood up. "Cinder. Come with me. We have a lot to work on." Cinder glared at the three men as she got up. Emerald and Mercury followed the Maiden. The last thing they heard in that room was the maniacal laughing of Tyrian.

The four were walking towards Salem's chambers at a moderated speed until Cinder stopped to look at her master. Emerald stopped with her while Mercury looked puzzled.

Is there something wrong with my orders Cinder?" Salem said, knowing that her Fall Maiden was distraught since they left. Cinder gestured for Emerald to come closer. After a few moments of silence, Emerald's eyes widened.

"Speak up child." Salem said flatly.

"She says that she didn't want to say this in the room due to the others not believing her. But she says Arc was made the same way Amelie was. But instead he fell in?" Emerald said this last part with a question. Salem's eyes narrowed at this news and she was now face to face with the Fall Maiden.

"And do explain why you withheld this information from me?" her voice was stern, but cold enough to make the three in front of her shudder. Her tone was justified due to it being a few months since she had come back to her, scarred to hell and barley hanging onto life.

Cinder gestured to Emerald once more and whispered a few more words to her and then held her scroll to her master.

"The tower being down made it harder to acquire to find the official report. Just to make sure." Emerald said and Salem looked at the scroll in front of her. Apparently after the festival, Ozpin was going to put out an official document about the origin of the Reaper. Clearly that never came to fruition. Salem starred on for a few more seconds, reading the details of the night he came to be. To the other's surprise, she chuckled menacingly at this.

"Oh, this makes things much more interesting.

 **With Team RPNR**

"I mean, I really thing that we should be a different name. It's too dark." Nora exclaimed as she and Ren were walking through the dense forest of Anima. Her new bomber jacket flowed with the breeze and yet snugged tightly to her form.

"Honestly Nora I don't know what to decide. RPNR isn't even a color." Ren sighed, being a little tired of this discussion. His sleeveless tailcoat and let down hair swayed as well.

"That's easy! How about PNRR (Pioneer)?" the ninja's partner said with a wide smile while he just looked confused.

"That's still not a color Nora. And isn't Ruby the leader of our group?" he asked while scratching his hair.

"Guys." A familiar voice said as she was looking off in the clearing ahead. "Now is NOT the time." Her attire had stayed its familiar bronze and red scheme. While she had no weapon on her, the rest of Pyrrha's appearance stayed the same. The two were sort of snapped to attention at her strict tone. She then faced forward and her eyes narrowed. "It's here." she muttered to herself.

Out in the distance, they could see that Ruby who was dawning a new combat skirt and attire that resembled Penny's outfit crash through the trees. She was firing shot after shot at what now could be seen as a massive colossus that was made of stone. It barreled toward her but missed as Ruby used her semblance to get back to the rest of her team.

"Well at least we found it." Ruby said with a sheepish smile. The others nodded at this. "Nora, distract it from up top. Ren, do the same but in the opposite direction." The two nodded and headed their respective ways. She then looked back to the champion. "You think you can use your semblance to keep it occupied as well?" Pyrrha's response was a flat nod and Ruby internally sighed as she began to circle around the grim as well.

The three of them circled the grim while spewing dust rounds at it. Nora did the most damage at the time due to the direct hits on the face. Ren took this opportunity as he leapt onto one of the massive arms and ran up while firing rapidly. Once more damaging the grim. However, the colossus shook the ninja off him and was about to slam his stone fist on top of him. To the grim's confusion however, his arm seemed to be suspended and not able to move. It looked down to see that Pyrrha was using her polarity to hold him still. With a strained yell, she dislodged the arm and it crashed into the forest. It didn't stop it though due to it now using a tree as a replacement. Pyrrha cursed at this and dove out of the way when it made swiping motions towards her. As it was about to strike once more, one of Ren's Stormflowers whistled through the air and damaged its mask.

"I know what we need to do." Pyrrha said with slightly wide eyes. "We need to tear it apart piece by piece and then take out the mask." The three nodded at this and once more took their positions and Nora began charging the new modification on her weapon. Pyrrha used her polarity once more to hold the colossus's feet in place. Ren began hacking away viciously at the arm that consisted of wood. The beast didn't notice though, Ruby was charging at it with full force. She passed Nora, entangling her in her semblance and with the added speed, Nora smashed the mask into pieces. Leaving the grim as only an empty shell while the Geist that inhabited the body began to flee. Ruby took this opportunity to fire a round straight at the grim's head and the squeal it made was the only sound the forest consisted of at that moment.

#

"Thank you. That Geist has been terrorizing the area around us for quite a while now. We were lucky that you all came to our aid." The village elder told the multicolored team that was standing before him. Nora gave him a mock salute while Ren was standing next to her with a calm demeanor and a gentle smile towards the elder.

"It was no problem for us." Ruby said with enthusiasm while Pyrrha simply nodded along with the leader and they looked back at the elder.

"I just wish we could have paid you all better." Ren was about to interject, but was cut off by Pyrrha.

"There is no need for that. Our previous agreement will suffice." Her words sounded flat but contrasted with her smile. The elder looked a little concerned, along with the rest of her team but in the end, shrugged it off and nodded back. The champion along with her team bowed and then headed toward the blacksmith.

"You sure that wasn't tough for you back then Pyrrha?" Ruby asked as they were waiting for the blacksmith to be done. "It was touch and go there for a while and you didn't have a weapon." Pyrrha gave Ruby a small smile and shrugged.

"It was no problem. My semblance helped balance things out." Pyrrha said with a quick response. Ruby sent a concerning look towards Nora and Ren and they seemed to catch the hints as well. Before anyone could say anything more, there was a loud thud at the front desk of the shop. The four of them looked at the blade that extended into a spear along with the round shield at its side.

"I will admit, it was a pain to heat." The burly faunus said to the group. "The metal of that damn sword nearly threw my back out trying to render it. But in the end, I upgraded it to all of the modifications that were asked for. Mind I ask where you got it though?" the group looked down at the blade and then to the shield. They soon all noticed that Akuko now dawned Pyrrha's symbol in the center. What really caught their attention though were the two white arcs that encompassed half the rim.

"From a friend." She replied somewhat coldly as she grabbed the items and placed them on her back. The champion gave no regard to them whatsoever and walked out of the establishment.

"Things haven't been easy for any of us these days." The blacksmith said to the three who were eyeing the door with worry. "Towers are down, grim are on the rise, and bandits are going insane. Or dropping like flies." He then looked at them with concern. "You sure you kids don't want to stick around here?" Ruby gave him a gentle smile and shook her head.

"Sorry but were heading to Mistral. No stopping us." This seemed to earn a chuckle from the blacksmith.

"We heard the next village had an airship we could use." Ren stated which caused the faunus to scratch his beard.

"Haven't really heard from Xiong village. Even before the tower fell. Anyways, be safe out there. Phantoms are known to stalk these forests nowadays." The three lowered their heads for a moment before nodding and heading out the door.

"You all ready?" they looked to see that Pyrrha wasn't even looking at them. She instead was inspecting her new weapon. Ruby was about to say something until Ren interjected.

"We are all ready." He said. Ruby and Nora looked at him with confusion and he gently shook his head. They soon agreed to the ninja's silent request to let things be and they soon followed after their teammate. Not noticing the grimace and painful expression she wore while looking at the new but familiar blade.

 **Xiong Village:**

"Please! Spare my family!" an elderly man pleaded. His only response was the butt of a shotgun to the face. His family that was witnessing this horror, along with the rest of the village that was in a panic and burning down.

"You know the rules." The bandit with the worn-down shotgun heard from behind him. He turned and grinned, knowing where she was going with this. Their leader walked forward, drawing her sword and a mask that somewhat resembled a nevermore. "The strong survive." She turned her head towards her underling who grinned maniacally

"The weak die." He pulled the trigger and a large booming noise echoed throughout the chaos. The insides of the older man's head now decorated the pavement, inches away from his family that were now screaming while the bandits laughed triumphantly.

"Take them with the others. Do what you always do." her voice was cold and calculated and the two at her side grinned viciously at the now widow and her daughter. They were torn apart from each other and were dragged to separate areas of the now burning City. Despite the roaring flames that were coating the airship however, silence began to coat the land due to everyone being captured or killed. The daughter's screams of protest and fear were the only noises to exist now as she was being dragged by her hair into a nearby alley that was layered in soot. The bandit in front of her now was licking his lips.

"You're a little younger than I wanted but I honestly don't mind. During times out in the woods, I'll take anything that looks like a hole." He said as he ripped her dress apart, revealing her petite, naked form. The bandit was now caressing her skin with a hint of aggression as he licked her ear. She screamed more and thrashed violently, but this just seemed to arouse the now shirtless bandit that was getting on top of her. He was laughing now and the girl clamped her eyes shut, bracing herself for the sick deeds that were to come.

The laughter stopped however as she began to hear what seemed to be gurgling. She refused to open her eyes however until she felt the feeling of a warm liquid, dripping onto her face. Her eyes opened as she saw the bandit now kneeling upright, his hands grasping for his throat while trying to remove the blade that was sticking out in the front. The blade of sorts seemed to roughly saw through the rest of the head and blood spurted onto the half-naked girl. She covered her face from what she could block and when the blood stopped its gushing, she looked up and her eyes widened.

She wanted to see a shining knight, here to rescue her and defeat the bandits. A shiny row of pearly white teeth with his smile and a charisma she always dreamed of. A hero. What was in front of her however was someone she wished to never meet. Rumors of this man in front of her were running around the village and it was his presence that made her parents on edge the past few months. She clasped her hands over her mouth as he hacked off the rest of the bandit's head and then picked it up.

"This will do." she heard him mumble. She let out a small cry at the sheer sinister intent in his voice and she could now feel his eyes on her. A few moments past though and when the girl looked up once again, he was gone. In these moments, all she wanted to do was to sprint out of her village, but all she could do now was cry.

The bandit leader was looking over her latest conquest while her fellow tribesmen were counting the goods they took. She was standing in the courtyard of Xiong and over the wounded huntsmen that she stabbed in the abdomen a few moments ago. His disgruntled cries of pain seemed to pleasure her a bit. Despite those blissful moments however, she knew that they didn't have a lot of time until the grim and especially that one came in and decimate the rest of the stragglers.

She was about to rally her subordinates until she saw something rolling towards her. It was slowly rolling in her direction and the others noticed this as well. All eyes were now on the rolling object coming towards the leader and they could see her head slightly adjust and she ready her blade. Her stance was now in a defensive one as she waited for the object to come closer.

The other bandits screamed and yelled in disgust as they now saw that the object was the head of one of their trusted companions. His eyes and teeth were missing and his tongue was hanging out the back side of his head. Their leader however, was now trying to sense anything that was coming their way. Anything that she could grasp that was out in the distance.

Her head jolted up and she let out a slight gasp while turning around and blocking an oncoming strike. The black smoke that rocketed towards her way had now passed through her form and was circling around for another attack. She winced at this next cut as one of his blades past through the top of her right shoulder. Once more he tried this trick and she knew this. She once again readied her battle position and waited for the smoked that was circling around to come at her.

This time her blade was able to parry one of the attacks, but she didn't see the quick glint of light and soon felt the blunt impact of a hilt of sorts right in the center of her forehead. She was knocked back by the sudden force. Her aura was healing the trauma that was inflicted, but it caused her helmet to come off. Her black hair was let down and her red eyes were focused on the man that was standing in front of her. His cloak was drifting with the breeze and his black Kevlar chest piece with shotgun shells attached clinked along with the other buckles that were on his person. His hood was dawned and the now infamous mask was staring right at her. His head was cocked to the side in confusion and she caught onto this.

"Something you like?" she asked with some bravado. It's only means were to recollect her thoughts and she was the one that became confused now due to the aura around him morphing into something malicious. It was at that moment though that he spoke and caused the bandit leader to go wide eyed.

"Yang?" he asked with some confusion. A jolt of anxiety went through every system of the leader's body as her opponent's demeanor darkened immensely. His two machetes shifted into shotguns and both were now aimed at her.

"I take it you've met her in the past." She said, treading slightly to the side to give her some space. The man in front of her chuckled a bit. Realizing that she wasn't who he thought she was.

"You could say that." he said while opening fire. The leader got into a defensive stance and began to block and avoid the dust pellets that were being hurled her way. She became confused though as she realized that despite the two guns, the rate of fire was slower than she expected. That is when the leader heard the ear piecing screams coming from her tribesmen. Her eyes widened as she saw that he was using his other shotgun to decimate the rest of her subordinates. They were novices that she was training to pillage and realized that they had no aura. The blood that spayed over the flagstones all around them were testament to that fact. The mutilated cries for help soon surrounded the burning village and in a fit of fury, the leader rushed forward while swinging her sword relentlessly but articulately. Her opponent dodged what he could, but a few strikes seemed to pass his defenses. It was no trouble for him however as he simply phased through the sword strikes. With a cry of anger, she thrusted her blade toward his head and he ducked under while grabbing both of her arms. He crouched into her lower space and threw her over his shoulder. The leader landed full force into a nearby tree. Despite her aura healing her, she could still feel the blunt force. She got ready once more and was about to attack until the man in front of her began to chuckle. She became confused at this until she heard the growls of the grim surround them. She turned to face the rest of her subordinates but the only ones that she saw were being devoured in front of her eyes. She knew then that she couldn't take the grim on and the man in front of her. Gritting her teeth, she did the one thing she hated most of all and retreated.

The leader sheathed her sword, coating it in dust. A moment later, she brandished it once more while cutting a portal. All while looking back one last time to see two red eyes piecing through her aura and into her soul. She came out the other end a little winded and leaning against a tree.

"So that's the Reaper." She muttered to herself. Her fist tightened in anger as she remembered the screams of her tribesmen. She was quick to assume that victory was hers and this was the outcome. Although one fact bugged her. Why did he call her that name? That one person that she honestly wanted to forget. She stood there racking her brain, thinking of the reasons why he said that until she let out a soft sigh and sliced a portal open once more. The thing she needed most right now was answers, no matter where they came from.

Even if it was from her daughter.

#

The Reaper looked around at the destruction that was engulfing him now. The grim were charging his way and he simply stood there. Before any of the Beowolves could lay a claw on him however, he drew his shotguns once more and laid waste to them. after the six of them were dealt with he began to walk further down the bath until his scroll vibrated. He reached for it and saw that it was a group message and answered.

"Reaps!" the overly excited voice of Sombra echoed into his ear. "We see the smoke from here. did you have fun?" he smirked at her teasing attitude and gently shook his head.

"Yeah. When we meet back up I need you to add a person of interest to the archives. This village is lost anyway. I'll meet back up with you guys in an hour." He said. He was still trying to get used to his old voice despite the number of months that have passed.

"We will see you then Jaune." He smiled under his mask at the familiar voice of his partner and nodded before hanging up. He took a few steps toward his destination until he heard a deafening shriek encompass the ruined village. Surprised he turned around to see one of the most mutated grim he had ever laid his eyes on. A combination of horse and man with inhumanly long arms trudged a few steps toward him. The grim and Jaune stared at each other for a few moments until Jaune broke contact and dissipated into smoke, leaving the beast to shriek once more.

 **And Arc 3 is here. I'm sorry beauties and gentlebeauties. With the chapter I had a week ago, (Shudders) it wasn't ready. It wasn't the best I could do and so I rewrote the whole chapter. I decided to go a little by the book (or TV show in this scenario) in the beginning but put my spin on it at the end. I will say this though that this will be the toughest arc yet because I didn't really like season four of RWBY compared to the other seasons. Nevertheless, I shall keep writing. I'm on spring break at the moment so it means more time to write. YAY! Anyways, leave a comment or a review if you want and as always beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Sweet mother of God on the hood of a Mercedes Benz. I finally got another chapter out. Anyways I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. Enjoy!**

Chapter 23

The lax and strain of loved ones

"Madame, I must advise you from entering." The humble voice of Klein echoed through the massive halls of the Schnee mansion along with the fierce clicking of heels from none other than Winter Schnee. "She has not been doing well and I fear that this will only worsen things." Her passive aggressive expression still rested on her face despite the butler's plea and the rapid footsteps described she was not to be stopped. During this time, General Ironwood would be conversing with Jacque. She refused to refer to that man as her father. Not after she read over his new regulations among the Faunus dust mines and how he acquired the power to get past the progressive protestors. During this time however, she thought it would be fit to finally meet her "dear" sister after all this time.

"Klein, as much as I appreciate your words of advice, this meeting is long overdue." She said coldly. The butler knew that she wasn't mad with him, but with the one in question. During the Vytal Festival, she was denied to interact with her sister by General Ironwood himself. When she questioned him on the matter, he simply told her that Weiss was not available at the time and that was that. However, after the fall, the whole story of the Reaper that she heard so much of was released and who was responsible for creating him, courtesy of the Arcs who shared this knowledge with the world along with a certified report from the late Ozpin that they somehow acquired.

When she saw this story all over the news, her first reaction was to head to the General for verification. She needed to know if her sister who was shown with two other girls on the T.V. was responsible for what the Arcs were accusing her of. It was the first time any recruit saw the stoic Winter Schnee livid beyond belief and when she entered Ironwood's office that day, rumors would spread that there was a massive temperature drop in the already freezing kingdom of Atlas.

Despite knowing now how responsible Weiss was for creating such a monster, she was still prohibited from seeing her due to Jacque blocking her from the outside world. Winter was told that she was under surveillance at all times and was kept in her room unless her father called for it. This however didn't stop Winter from confronting her due to ordering Klein to loop the camera feed in Weiss's room and bribing the guards to leave. She was now in front of her door and ready to open it until an unwelcoming voice pierced through the halls.

"Hello Winter." Winter's fists tightened in anger as she heard the voice come from none other than Whitley Schnee, her weasel of a brother. She saw that Klein was about to interject, but she put her arm up to stop him.

"What do you want?" she deadpanned with a flat tone and soon contemplated stabbing him when he made a mockingly hurt gesture.

"Can't I check up on our dear sister?" he somewhat sneered. Winter always knew when it came to Whitley, there was always an ulterior motive.

"YOUR sister." Winter emphasized the first word of her sentence and before he could respond, Winter gestured for Klein to get him out of her sight. The butler reluctantly did so and he escorted the young man away from Winter who now twisted the knob and let herself into Weiss's room.

The room was layered in darkness and the only sounds that consisted within were Winter's steps. The room was by all means vacant of everything besides a bed, a desk, and a bookshelf consisting of manuals to dust use. Winter wandered a little aimlessly in the massive darkness until she saw her sister sitting in a chair. Her back was to winter as the heiress was staring out of the window, onto the city below.

"I wasn't expecting any visitors." Weiss said softly. From Winter could make out, it sounded as she was struggling. Winter furrowed her eyebrows in frustrated confusion and took one more step forward.

"Well it took a bit to get past all the new security." Winter quipped. Her voice caused Weiss's head to jolt up straight and a few moments passed before Weiss said anything.

"Leave." Weiss attempted to growl but just sounded as a strained request rather than a threat. Winter's hands balled up into fists at this.

"I saw what you did." Winter flatly said despite the anger growing within her.

"What you plan on saying is not news to me." Weiss quickly responded. "I don't need to hear what has already been said." A frustrated growl could be heard from Winter as she looked at the back of Weiss's head.

"I don't think you know the magnitude of what you did." Winter spat. "You do realize that you murdered a student in cold blood and have basically gotten away with it. What do you have to say besides you thought it was the right thing to do?!" Winter was about to go into hysterics at the anger brewing inside her. She was about to go on until she heard a whirring noise and soon saw Weiss was turning somewhat slowly towards her. When the light shined behind the heiress though, Winter let out a sharp gasp to what was in front of her.

A light blue skirt and sweater combo decorated Weiss Schnee who was in an automatic wheel chair. Burned scar tissue decorated the left side of her face and went all the way down to her neck. Her hair on the same side was singed off unlike the rest, but what really stood out was the horrendous scars that stumped her left arm and right leg. She couldn't see more, but safely assumed that there was more to the horrendous tapestry of wounds that laid before her eyes.

"Paladin activated its self-destruct sequence. I was right next to it when it exploded." Weiss answered her sister's unspoken question. The heiress's remaining hand tightened into a fist as she continued to stare at Winter. "Apparently, HE hacked into the CCT prior to the attack and got access to the self-destruct proto call. At least that's what Klein has learned." She finished and Winter's glare intensified as she folded her arms.

"You mean Jaune Arc?" Weiss's face twisted into one of anger as she heard that name. "I know what happened, along with everyone else in Remnant." Winter returned the angry look and she took one more step closer to Weiss. "And honestly I'm appalled to be even related to this family. At first I thought it was just Jacque and Whitley who were disgusting, but now I see your true colors Weiss. And I am very, VERY, disappointed to see you fall to their level." Winter wanted to go on but the look Weiss sent her way was enough to show that what she was saying was already said before. Winter sighed at this and took one last look at the crippled heiress in front of her before heading to the door. When she shut the door behind her, she began to hear muffled sobs, which caused her to grit her teeth and walk away. Before she left though, she heard Klein enter the room and answer to Weiss.

"Miss Schnee. Your father wants to speak to you." Winter scoffed at the muffled news and quickly made her way to the general, wanting to get far away from this twisted mansion that she once called home.

 **#**

"So, you're sure this is the right path to Xiong village?" Ruby asked Ren as she was looking at the map. Nora was by the ninja's side grinning and poking at him, trying to liven up the somewhat somber hike.

"I'm sure Ruby. It's a lively village compared to most within Anima and I'm sure that there will be many things to do before we get on the airship." They heard one pair of footsteps stop which caused them all to look back to see that Pyrrha was looking at them all with a hint of anger.

"What are you all talking about? We need to get to Mistral as soon as possible." Confusion turned to concerned among the three that were looking at the champion.

"Pyrrha, despite the urgency, we need to take care of ourselves as well." Ren said taking a step towards her.

"We won't be any use to anyone if we aren't in fighting condition." Nora chimed in and Ruby nodded in agreement.

"We're only going to spending a day there. We'll be in Mistral before we know it." Ruby said with a grin. Pyrrha remained silent for a few moments before she barged through the three and went ahead by herself. The three could only look at one another with worry as they saw the familiar blade gleaming off her back.

The trip continued in silence for a while. The only sounds that were made were the footsteps of each huntsman and huntresses. Ruby looked ahead to see that Pyrrha wasn't saying a word. Not since she objected to a little rest. Ruby loathed this side of the champion. During their time at Beacon and especially as a team, Ruby could see purpose within Pyrrha. There was always something driving her forward, but she was always considerate of the ones around her and how they felt, always considering the wellbeing of the team before the mission.

But ever since the fall of Beacon, Pyrrha had been cold and confined to herself. She never considered what the others thought and rushed into fights. Nora and Ren could see it as well. There was unbridled anger in her attacks and a ferocity in her eyes that could lead her down the wrong path. The issue of this was that Pyrrha refused to tell anyone what happened on the tower or on the roof where she was found with Jaune's sword. She flat out ignored Nora's pleas and Ren's questions. Ruby decided to keep to herself about it due to believing that it wasn't her place to ask anything. But ever since then, Pyrrha had isolated herself with only a fixed mindset on finding Jaune. What worried Ruby was that she didn't know what Pyrrha planned on doing when she did find him.

"I can see it coming up!" Nora exclaimed with excitement. Ruby's eyes widened with joy and relief. She caught up to Pyrrha in a matter of moments due to her semblance.

"Excited to go back Pyrrha?" the rose asked. for the first time during the whole trip Pyrrha slightly grinned at this.

"I actually am. It's been a while since I've been home." Ruby grinned at this and decided to keep the conversation going.

"So, what's the plan when we get there?" Ruby asked, earning a confused look from the champion.

"Aren't you the team leader? Shouldn't you make the decisions?" this caused Ruby's eye to twitch a bit in annoyance. Despite being the leader, she didn't feel like she was.

"Well I was figuring since you know the kingdom better than any of us, I thought you would know what's the best thing to do." Pyrrha went silent for a second, becoming deep in thought as she placed a thumb under her chin.

"I suppose that we should meet my parents first. I assume that Ren and Nora don't have any connections in Mistral so we can set up a place for you all to stay at my house. It's big enough. And I guess we would head to Haven after that and see if we can find any leads on him." Ruby nodded solemnly at this, but felt her heart twinge when Pyrrha didn't say his name. it reminded her of the months of anguish at Beacon after Jaune's "death."

"Guys…" they heard Ren say with a hint of fear in his voice. As he said this, the two huntresses looked forward and away from their conversation to see the town of Xiong in ruins. They saw the airship they had come for was destroyed and the buildings were either smoking or on fire and they could see corpses everywhere. Some were dismembered while others had gaping wounds within various parts of their bodies. The one thing that was in common with them all was the looks of absolute terror on their faces.

The four of them all looked onto the grizzly scene wide eyed and were only snapped from their daze when they heard the soft sobbing coming from a nearby alley. Pyrrha and Ruby ran instinctively to find the source while Ren and Nora were following from behind, only for Ren to stop dead in his tracks. Nora was confused when her partner decided to walk slowly in the opposite direction. Right before Nora could ask anything, she saw what he was looking at and her eyes slightly widened at the familiar hoofprint that still haunted both of them.

Ruby and Pyrrha searched in silence in case any threats were in the area. The stifled sobs were echoing all around them and before they decided to look elsewhere, they heard shuffling at the back of the alley. The two found a little girl trying to hide herself under some rubble and garbage.

"Hey there." Ruby said with a calm demeanor as she put away Crescent Rose. "We're here to help." The little girl looked on at Ruby and then to Pyrrha who was covering them. without a moment's notice, the girl rushed to Ruby and her sobbing amplified. Ruby wrapped her arms around her and stroked her hair in order to calm her down. Once the sobbing died down, Ruby noticed that the girl wasn't wearing anything and wrapped her cloak around her.

"Whats your name?" Ruby asked. She waited until the girl looked up at her.

"Ariella." She stuttered out. Ruby noticed that the girl was beyond shell shocked due to her twitchy behavior and the strength she had as she latched around Ruby.

"Can you tell me what happened Ariella?" Ruby asked, but didn't want to appear as pushy.

"B-Bandits came and started taking people… O-One shot my da-" Ruby saw the tears welling up again and she pulled her for another hug. After a few moments, Ariella continued on. "Mommy told me when people panic," Ruby and Pyrrha didn't need to hear the rest to know what happens when panic overtakes a town.

"I don't see any more bandits." Ruby started as she pulled away from the hug. "Did the grim take them out?" Ruby and Pyrrha were surprised when the girl shook her head. "Did they leave?" Ariella shook her head again. "Ariella, what happened to the bandits?" she was silent for a few minutes before looking back up at Ruby.

"Mommy told me not to go out at night because of the scary man in the mask that caused bad things in Vale." Ruby grew a little fearful at this. "We saw him in the news when it arrived from other towns. He wore black and he killed them all." Ruby's eyes widened at this and before she could say anything more, Pyrrha pulled her back and got in front of the girl.

"Did he use smoke? What were his weapons? What was his mask?" Ruby was about to interject but Pyrrha then shook the child violently. "ANSWER ME!" she shrieked. "WHERE IS HE?!" at this point Ariella reverted back to her crying mess and as Pyrrha was about to shake her some more, she was ripped away from the girl and slammed into a nearby wall. She looked with anger at Ruby who was holding her. What the champion noticed the most however was the cold glare that was gaping into her.

"NO MORE PYRRHA." Ruby ordered. She then grasped Pyrrha's shoulders and shoved her to the entrance of the alleyway. "Get back to Nora and Ren. NOW." what the rose didn't realize was that her eyes were gleaming with silver and starting to scare Pyrrha. A few moments past before Pyrrha calmed herself just a bit and only nodded. Turning around and heading towards the others. Ruby let out a sigh of frustration and turned back to Ariella.

"I'm sorry about that. You can come with us and we'll get you to the next town. Is that okay?" Ariella only nodded and Ruby gave her a solemn smile before picking her up and heading back to the others. Nora and Ren looked confused while Pyrrha refused to make eye contact with her.

"We'll take her to the next village and continue to Mistral on foot." Ruby said somewhat coldly, all cheerfulness that she was known for was absent in her orders. She walked past them all and as she was passing Pyrrha, she looked up at her. "You and I need to talk. As soon as we can." Pyrrha glared at her for a moment but Ruby paid no mind as they continued on into the forest, hoping that things will turn for the better.

 **#**

 _Rain poured relentlessly on the field that a massive group of people gathered around. Everyone dawned black and sorrow was the common expression amongst the ones gathered at the center of the group. NPR, Ruby, his mother who was the only one strong enough in his family to come close to his coffin and some of the professors gathered around the empty tomb._

 _His empty tomb._

 _Little did they all know that the one that they were burring was standing along the tree line_ _in the outskirts of the cemetery. A ragged hoodie was draped over his head as he looked at the sight before him. The ones he loved and cared for were all in shambles all because he wasn't strong or brave enough to overcome this pain he felt. That agonizing feeling of being ripped apart roared at him every day and he knew if he went back they would resent him and hate him for what he became._

 _"_ _We gather here today to mourn the loss of someone special." he heard Ozpin say. He gave no reaction to this as he kept intently listening. "We lost a friend, a leader, and a son who would do anything for the ones he cared for. In these tragic events, he gave his life to protect the ones he loved and that is most noble sacrifice of all." this made Jaune's deteriorating eye twitch a bit._

 _"_ _Sacrifice my ass." Jaune muttered as he kept looking on at them. That anger he felt when he ripped those Beowolves apart in the Forever Fall was returning and it was strictly focused on the three that made him who he was now. After a few more words from the headmaster, the others came to pay their respects. No one besides the WBY were exempt from tears. Even Ren, the one he considered the most stoic out of them all had tears streaming down his face. What hurt him the most though was when Pyrrha had to be pulled away from his coffin. It was then his anger towards all the fucked-up shit he went through peaked and with a silent but ferocious fit of anger, he slammed his fist into the tree he was leaning against. Immediately on contact, his fist exploded into smoke. The pain erupted throughout his body and he fell to one knee, holding the stump on his arm._

 _As he looked up though, he saw that one pair of eyes were staring right at him. Eveline Arc. The youngest of the siblings who was only one years old was staring right at him from the comfort of her father's shoulders. Jaune didn't know what to do and in those moments, the little toddler smiled and giggled while reaching her arm out to him. Her blonde hair was becoming wet from the rain, but from the elated look only a one year old could possess, it was safe to say that she didn't care. Tears started to stream down Jaune's face as he could hear her giggles and before he could do anything, her giggling ceased._

 _ **"**_ _ **WAKE UP JAUNE! WE HAVE WORK TO DO!"**_ _the demonic voice that clouded his dreams emerged from her mouth and the rain ceased. The funeral was no more and Jaune was once again in the void, bound by red streams of what appeared to be smoke infused aura. The demonic entity emerged from the darkness and enveloped Jaune into its maw and right before Jaune was crushed by the jagged teeth, he could hear Eveline giggle one last time._

Jaune awoke with a loud gasp as he summoned one of his shot guns. He was pointing at one of the trees and right before he could fire, he came to his senses and realized it was another dream. Jaune silently cursed at himself as he looked for his team. He saw Sombra sleeping in her sleeping bag, but noticed that Amelie was nowhere to be seen. Jaune got up from his sleeping bag and saw her footprints leading north. He decided to follow her steps deeper into the woods and noticed the fireflies that were dancing around him. He was only wearing some gym shorts and a black T-shirt but he didn't care for the cold that whipped his back, he felt worse so this was nothing to him. He came to the realization though that the pain he had to live with was never going to come back and he didn't know how to feel about it. Of course, there was the relief from the torment, but in some way, he missed it. As if it made him stronger than he actually was.

His thoughts were cut short though when he saw Amelie ahead of him. He sped up the pace and was about to ask what she was up to until he saw her up close. She was sitting on top of a boulder that let her overlook the cliffside further north. Her rifle rested in her arms but what stood out in Jaune's perspective was that she let her hair down. It flowed along the slopes of the boulder and glimmered along in the broken moonlight. Jaune stood there for a few moments, dumbstruck due to the subtle change.

"Are you just going to stare at me or are you going to say something." She said, breaking the silence and snapping Jaune from his daze. He stuttered a bit, trying to get his bearings together which caused her to chuckle. She said nothing more, instead she gestured for him to join her on the boulder. He sighed at his old socially awkward antics and used his smoke to appear right next to her. He and Amelie looked out onto the forest below them and marveled at how bright it was despite it being night.

"You know you could have asked us for help back at Xiong." Amelie said, breaking the awkward silence once more.

"You did help. I needed you two to head further up the trail in case more threats were on the way." Jaune said, now with his arms folded. "And we got a name on the woman who leads that tribe thanks to Sombra." He chuckled at the thought of her due to the hacker going through digital withdrawals because of the towers being out of commission. Despite that, she was able to go through some local archives in the town and discovered who the potential threats are.

"Raven Branwen," Amelie started. "I doubt she will be a problem for a while. You did kind of massacre half her tribesmen back there." Both of them chuckled at this. Even if it sounded demented and twisted, they both knew they were the kind of people to do those things. An uncomfortable silence hung between the two after the laughing ceased.

"So, I guess we should talk about what we heard back at Beacon." Jaune said as he scratched the back of his head. He looked down and saw that Amelie nodded at this. He sat down next to her and noticed the complicated expression on her face. "I'm guessing it's been bothering you." She looked at him while quirking an eyebrow.

"You sure do like to guess." She quipped which made him smirk. "But yes. I am worried. I mean what happened to you was a nightma-" Jaune put a hand on her shoulder which made her go slightly wide eyed.

"I was asking about you. Don't worry about me. Not yet at least." Jaune said with a reassuring smile. Amelie then realized when she first discovered what they truly were, she didn't even care for herself. She was worried for the one in front of her and not her own wellbeing.

Just what the hell did that mean for her?

"I guess you could say that I'm worried that I may feel more pain but that's it." Jaune looked confused at this and Amelie let out a sigh. "I get chills that match the pain of frostbite sometimes due to not being able to produce enough body heat." She said which made Jaune a little surprised.

"Didn't know that." he said as looked down. "Is that all? Any morals or ethics at risk now that we're basically the monsters that huntsmen fight against?" Jaune joked which made her genuinely laugh.

"After mutilating a group of students, killing a warehouse full of White Fang, causing a breech in Vale, killing more White Fang including their leader that you showed on the CCT for the world to see, and then severely injuring and traumatizing another group of students, you just now start to question your morals?" Amelie said. Both became silent for a few moments before bursting into laughter. So much that tears began to form in their eyes.

"We're terrible people, aren't we?" Jaune said while smiling.

"Like you said. We're killers. We knew what we were getting into and be that as it may, at least we can say we aren't alone." Amelie said making Jaune nod. She stood up and leapt off the boulder. "It's your turn for lookout anyway. I'm going to get some rest." Jaune nodded once more.

"Sleep well." He replied. She gave him a wave before heading back to camp. He sat there looking up at the stars for a while, not sure how to feel about how his life went batshit insane. Despite how things have become more mellow as of late, he held a fear in the back of his mind that was telling him the worst is yet to come.

He summoned one of his shotguns and saw the smoke appear around it, only to have a sinking feeling when he saw the familiar red strands entangled in his aura.

 **Oh, man this was a tough one. School has become a grade A bitch as of late. Not to mention the fact that Volume four will be the toughest arc to go over for me. Anyways I hope you beautiful people liked this latest installment of Reaping with Sorrow. Pyrrha slipping into an obsessed quest, oh my. Weiss got fucked up as well. I wonder how that will work for her. and FINALLY got some more JaunexAmelie banter in there thankfully. All and all I want to make this not sappy as I possibly can but sometimes the emotions that the characters feel just are justified as such. Despite some sappy emotions, they are true and that's what I aim for in writing these characters. Anyways I have to thank SunWukongMogar for helping me with this. Also check out my other Jaune crossover story Tears of the Mind if you want. (An internal error happened on the latest update for it and says it updated April 20** **th** **) with that said thank you for reading this and as always, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPAEKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	25. Chapter 25

**So I got A LOT to talk about and fill you guys in on some things that have been on my mind. But that will be at the end. Enjoy guys. This was a struggle to write. But I hope you beautiful guys and gals like it. I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. they are owned by the lat Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.**

 **ENJOY!**

Chapter 24:

Allies and enemies

The gloomy grey of the clouds cloaked the city of Vale. Grim ran rampant in the areas that were closest to Beacon and the outskirts became home for the residents who refused to leave the crumbling kingdom. In one of the damaged buildings however, was where two ex-huntresses in training called home.

Blake Belladonna opened the rotting front door and winced as she heard the wood splinter. She sighed at this as she walked into the apartment and set down a bag of stolen food and goods. As she entered the small bedroom with nothing but an air mattress, she saw that her partner Yang Xiao Long hadn't moved from her previous sleeping position. This irked her a bit for the fact that she hadn't moved since this morning and it was almost evening.

"Get up." Blake said flatly. "I got us some dinner." This caused Yang to slowly move from her slumbering form and Blake noticed that she was struggling to sit herself up due to only having one arm. Blake looked away from the scarred stump and got their dinner ready. Only a few cans of food and some packaged crackers was all she could get her hands on due to the two of them being unofficially wanted by the people of Vale.

Their faces decorated the lamp posts and the sides of building all because the people of Vale were looking for someone to blame for the creation of the monster known now world-wide as the Reaper. The people only wanted his head for his actions but because everyone was too afraid of one of the few people that had caused chaos and ruin to the kingdoms, the people looked for others to put the blame on. That was when the Arc's informants and loyalists announced throughout all of Remnant who created the Reaper with an official document from the late Headmaster Ozpin to prove their claims authentic. The remaining members of power in Vale took this as a chance to take the heat off them and decided to place a bounty on the heads of Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. Weiss Schnee was protected too well by her father so there was nothing that they could do due to the SDC basically fueling international relations between the kingdoms.

Yang grumbled at this and awoke from her groggy state. She mumbled about not being that hungry and Blake's ears flattened at this.

"Yang you need to eat." The Faunus said as she opened two cans and grimaced at the unappealing food. Yang shifted a bit and shuddered while grasping her stump. Blake sighed at this knowing that Yang was going through her phantom pains again. It would take a few minutes before Yang would focus on anything else and Blake decided to start eating.

The two sat in silence for a few more minutes until Blake notice Yang reaching for her plastic fork. She continued to look on as she saw Yang struggling to eat her dinner and after about five minutes of struggling Yang sat her foot down.

"Do you need help?" Blake asked. she only meant well but her flat tone seemed to betray her as she saw Yang's eyes go red.

"Do you think this is funny?" Yang growled and Blake quirked an eyebrow.

"I never once claimed that it was. Yang, let me hel-" she was cut off as Yang threw her food at the faunus.

"SHUT UP!" Yang screamed as she tried to get up. "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Blake looked on at her partner with shock. It had been a few months since they relocated to this building and in all of those months, Blake had never seen Yang like this. She always kept to herself and Blake understood this. she was healing still but now Yang was being reclusive. She was resenting anyone she could get her hands on and it was starting to tick her off. She lost count of the days she was forced to pull both their weight just to survive. She was sick of risking her life day in and out for a person that would do nothing.

"None of this would have happened if you didn't push him." Blake muttered. She stood up but her wrist was grasped tightly by Yang who was also standing up. Her face contained a controlled rage but her eyes held an unquenchable fury.

"Say that one more time." Yang growled and Blake pulled back her hand.

"You heard me!" Blake shouted. "If it wasn't for you always getting angry at him, maybe this would have never happened! Maybe he wouldn't have snapped and put us here in this hellhole!" Blake was now seething but despite Yang's ever furious look growing, she continued. "If we just listened to our ex leader, maybe the breech would have never happened! maybe we would still be at Beacon! We wouldn't be wanted by the damn kingdom and if you weren't so short tempered you would still have your damn arm!" Blake said, finally crossing a line she would have never dreamed of crossing until now. She was sick of looking after someone who didn't want help. However, this didn't stop Yang from retorting.

"Where was this Blake when we hunted him down huh?!" Yang shouted and jabbed a finger into Blake's chest. "You had no problem with slandering his name when we were at Beacon. Or when Weiss bribed the student body. Or when you were strangling him!" She then grabbed Blake by the shirt and yanked her forward. "You're only saying this because we're in this shithole!" she then shoved her back and looked at her. In those moments, they both saw the exhaustion in one another. Not the exhaustion of living in semi-destroyed building, but the exhaustion of each other. Their tolerance of one another was beyond their breaking point and this was the result. Two ex-huntresses in training doing whatever they can to survive all while slowly beginning to hate each other.

"Face it." Yang growled. "If you had the chance you would do it again." Blake remained silent and after a few more moments of silence encompassing the room, Blake headed to the door. The splintering noise grinded against their ears and in those moments, Blake could feel Yang's eyes trying to pierce through her back. "Running like always?" Yang commented. Blake wanted to deny this comment. She wanted to justify that this wasn't running. Her hands clenched in fury and she turned back to Yang.

"Better than being here." Blake said as she headed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"No one is waiting for you out there!" Yang yelled, getting the last word in their fight. Blake let out a sigh of frustration, knowing what her ex-partner said was true. Either way, the faunus exited the building and straight to the rooftops. All while thinking how right Yang was about no one waiting for her.

Due to each member of WBY being incapacitated for a few days after the fall of Beacon, they were left clueless to how much had changed for them. From what Blake had discovered, Weiss was sent back to Atlas while she and Yang were hospitalized. They never saw Ruby which was expected, but what surprised them was that no one else showed up to see if they were okay. Blake shuddered at the memory when her first visitor came to see her.

 _Blake winced just a bit as she inspected the stab wound in her side. It had been a few days but the pain still resided within her. Though it wasn't as bad as the anxiety and confusion that was building within her. She thought that anyone would have shown up by now but for about a week, it was only her and Yang in the hospital room and the only noise that occupied the rooms were the mumbles and disgruntled shudders coming from the faunus's partner. That is until a light knock at their door caught her off guard._

 _"_ _C-come in." Blake stuttered, realizing that it had been a while since she had actually spoken to anyone. The door slightly groaned as a familiar face walked into the room. Blake's eyes widened and she had an urge to stand but due to her wound, she was confined to her bed. "Sun?" she asked. Relief was apparent in her voice now and she cracked a small smile. That smile diminished however as she saw that he didn't reciprocate her elated attitude. "Sun, what happened?" she was starting to worry due this being the longest Sun had ever been quiet. He didn't say a word. Instead, he tossed her his scroll. She caught it and opened it up and her eyes widened in horror to see a saved article entitling the actions she and her two other teammates had commenced._

 _"_ _It was the last thing that has been uploaded to any scroll. Due to the tower being out of commission." Sun said flatly. He folded his arms and said nothing more while Blake scrolled through the article. Blakes hands tightened around the device as she kept reading. She knew what this meant. At the time, she didn't know why Jaune's death impacted the public so much, that is until she found out that his father was a famous faunus rights activist. Now that the kingdom and possibly the world knew what really happened, it would only be a matter of time before the authorities came._

 _"_ _The others and I found out a bit earlier though." Blake looked up to see Sun was right in front of her and he snatched his scroll from her hands. "The night Beacon fell. Right after you passed out and Weiss suffered the explosion, he showed up." Sun turned around and pulled up a nearby chair. A few moments past while the stench of a busy hospital and the soft squeaking of the ceiling fan were the only things to occupy their senses. "I'll tell ya, Neptune and I were about to tear his head off. He hurt you and Yang. So I guess you could say my anger was at an all-time high." He then gestured to Yang to emphasize his point. "That's when he started talking." Blake noticed that Sun's hand was starting to quiver. Out of fear or anger, she couldn't tell. "Started saying things about you and the rest of your team being the cause of turning him into what he is now." he took a moment to take a breath of reassurance._ _"_ _Course, Nep and I denied it. Called him insane and what not." Blake saw that his hand started shaking a little more intensely. "Then the bastard lifted his mask. The two of us nearly vomited our guts out just by looking at him, but I saw him smiling." Sun and Blake sat there for what seemed like hours. Blake was looking at him with worry while the young man was staring at his feet while his tail slumped onto the somewhat grimy floor._

 _"_ _What happened next?" Blake asked, worried if Jaune hurt anyone. Sun let out an exasperated breath mixed with a laugh as he looked back to Blake._

 _"_ _He went over to his old teammates. Ren and Nora I think." Sun said and Blake nodded. "Asked where Pyrrha was and then he took off towards the tower." Despite the surprise of everyone being okay, Blake grew confused due to not knowing why Jaune went to the tower. "A little bit later, Ruby showed up and told us everything." Blake didn't say anything but the fear in her was apparent. "Neptune, CFVY, and I were all told what happened and what you three did." Sun then got up from his chair and folded his arms once more. Blake looked as if she wanted to say something, anything to defend herself against this, but she stayed silent._

 _"_ _I never knew him y'know." Sun said. "He wasn't around when I got to Vale and all I knew was that he died protecting his team from grimm. I learned later that he forged his way into Beacon and to be honest, I wish I had a chance to meet the guy." Blake grew confused at this. "I mean I call myself an excellent stowaway. What he did? That took balls of steel for him to do that." he chuckled a bit at this and cracked a bit of a smile, wondering how it would have been to meet the blonde knight before everything went to hell. He then turned to Blake and his smile dissolved. "And then I find out that the person that I've been around for months now." Blake could see that Sun's hands were balled up into tight fists. "The person that I thought I could trust. A person that I thought I could call a friend, was one of the few that killed him!" he shouted this last part and the fury within him could be seen by Blake. Her ears flattened and she tried to look away but somehow couldn't. "You played me and Neptune for idiots! We were helping you train to take out a maniac that you created!" the blonde faunus was now seething while Blake remained quiet. Sun was about to go on ranting, but Blake looked at him and decided to step in._

 _"_ _He was losing it. That night was the last time we were going to risk him hurting any of us." This only angered Sun even more._

 _"_ _Oh, I heard what he did! I heard what happened to the asshole that put his hands on Pyrrha and I found out what he did on your first mission! Yang jumped to conclusions and Jaune pushed back! I don't blame him either." Blake finally noticed the hateful glare that Sun kept on her. "You all pushed him to his limits and look what happened! Doesn't that remind you of an organization that YOU joined!" Blake had enough of this. Hot tears were forming in her eyes and she reciprocated Suns glare._

 _"_ _At least I didn't become a MONSTER!" Blake screamed. She couldn't remember the first time she screamed at anyone like this. Sun reeled back a bit. The room once more grew silent and before Blake could say anything, Sun headed for the door._

 _"_ _You and Yang will be wanted dead or alive once you get out of here." Sun said as he opened the door. He didn't need to see the look of dread and shock forming on her face. "Don't expect any of us to help you. Hell, I won't be surprised if CFVY leads the hunt for your heads." He was about to shut the door behind him until he turned back one last time. "And you're right, he is a monster now. But at least he admits it." And with that he slammed the door behind him. Leaving Blake in the darkness with her partner._

"Quite the day, is it not?" Blake snapped out of her trance and armed Gambol Shroud and faced the voice that was coming from behind her. She mentally cursed at herself for dozing off when she was out in the open. As she faced the man across the rooftop however, she cocked her head in confusion. The man was tall but a bit on the scrawny side. He had dark armor plating on his chest and a red robe covering his whole body. The red hood was draped over his head but his pitch-black hair draped over and contrasted with the red color scheme. His arms were folded and the look on his face had an image of longing. As if it had been a long time since he had seen her. "It has been a while Blake." the man said and Blake's eyes widened. She lowered her weapon with still a confused expression.

"Sienna Khan?" she asked and the man chuckled at this.

"Please Blake." He replied. "You're my niece. Call me Uncle."

 **With RPNR. Far outskirts of Higanbana Village**

Ruby let out a sigh of relief as she rested against a log. The campfire roared to life and the rose heard Nora squee with delight due to the warmth. It had been a damp day since they left Higanbana. They were thankful for multiple reasons that the village was still standing. They were able to get out of the rain, Ariella reunited with some family friends and was in better care, and they surprisingly got a lead on Jaune. Apparently, he made his way through the village on his own and didn't even acknowledge the people. The bars and taverns in the village were running rampant with stories of personal eyewitnesses and the team discovered that he was heading east. Towards Mistral. It secured their suspicions and now the team was set on a solid course. Along with the lack of grim the team was facing, Ruby was convinced that their luck was finally turning around for the better.

Ruby's eyes opened from her quick nap as she felt something brush by her feet. She looked up to see Pyrrha passing by and setting down a few more logs for the fire. Ruby kept eyeing the champion and noticed that she was setting up her sleeping area rather quickly. A few minutes passed by and the champion was finished laying her sleeping area out. Before Ruby could say anything, Pyrrha grabbed her weapons and headed off further into the woods. Ruby sat up and had a look of concern and frustration written all over her face.

"I think it's time to talk to her Ruby." Ruby turned to see Nora sitting next to the fire, trying to get warm. "You said you would back in Xiong." Ruby nodded at this and Nora gave her a reassuring grin.

"And tell her she'll be missing out on dinner as well if she doesn't come back soon." Ren added on as he was crushing a few ingredients into a small pot. Ruby chuckled a bit and got up. She readied Crescent Rose and headed off after her friend.

It took a while, but Ruby finally reached the end of Pyrrha's trail. The sun was about to set and Ruby's eyes squinted under the harsh sunlight. She then reached a small clearing and marveled at the lush greenery that surrounded her. In the distance however, Ruby noticed a bit of red contrasting with her surroundings and knew that it was Pyrrha. As the Rose made her way towards her, she could hear the faint sounds of chimes being played. The music became louder as she made her way toward Pyrrha and she also noticed that the champion was training. The sweat was apparent and the force in each of Pyrrha's strikes was noticeable. Ruby was about twenty feet away and noticed that Pyrrha's fatigue was apparent and saw her give one final swing, impaling the silver blade into the dirt. Ruby saw Pyrrha's gear and grasped her water canteen.

"Here." Ruby said as she tossed the canteen to her teammate. Pyrrha caught it with one of her hands and uncapped it.

"Shouldn't you be with the others?" Pyrrha questioned before she took a few swigs of water. Ruby chuckled a bit at this.

"They'll be fine. We're still in range for local chat on our scrolls and I think they need a little alone time." Ruby saw Pyrrha smirk at this and the champion set her drink down, and picked up her weapon once more. Ruby sighed at this. "Besides, I think it's time we talk." Pyrrha went still for a moment and Ruby grew a little more awkward.

"About?" Pyrrha asked flatly which caused Ruby to become frustrated.

"I don't know. How you've been acting this whole trip so far? Or how about when you went off on that traumatized girl back in Xiong?" Ruby asked. She heard Pyrrha let out a short breath and after sheathing her weapon, the champion turned to her with her arms folded.

"Last time I checked, we weren't going to Mistral for a vacation." Pyrrha replied. "We can't afford to lose track of what we're trying to do." Ruby growled a bit at this.

"And what is it that you think we're trying to do?!" Ruby exclaimed. "Finding out who caused the fall of Beacon? Or going on a wild goose chase for someone who is far ahead of us!" Pyrrha grew quiet when Ruby let out her small outburst. The only sounds were the chimes coming from a music box that was with Pyrrha's belongings. Ruby confirmed her suspicions about her teammate and decided to press on. "Pyrrha, I know Jaune means a lot to you. He means a lot to all of us. But we can't let him distra-"

"He doesn't degenerate anymore." Pyrrha interrupted as she faced Ruby. "On the roof that night. I flooded him with my aura and he turned back to normal." Ruby's eyes widened when she said this. This was the first time Pyrrha talked about what happened then. "For those moments, I saw my partner. I saw Jaune. And he was thankful. He was happy that the pain was gone. When I hugged him, I felt that warmth that I've missed." Ruby softly smiled at hearing this news. But grew confused when Pyrrha had a look of distraught. "But then he knocked me out. Took the hilt of his blade and slammed it into my head." Ruby's smile faltered as she heard this. Pyrrha then turned back to Ruby and walked forward. "So yes. I am trying to find him. Because not only is he linked to everything that happened in Vale, but I need to know why he did that. why he left." Ruby remained quiet for a bit and headed over to the music box and closed it. Before Pyrrha could say anything, Ruby turned around.

"Do you blame yourself for what happened to him?" Ruby asked out of nowhere. "Do you think that if you could have done something, anything just a little more to help him, he would be here with us?" Ruby noticed the growing anger and frustration within Pyrrha but decided to go on. "Do you think that Jaune even wants to come back to us? After how we treated him in the beginning? Do you think apologizing to him will somehow bring him back?!" Ruby knew that this wasn't going to end well but she was ready.

"Who are you to ask me this?!" Pyrrha replied. "Do you know even half of what you're saying?! While you're asking me why am I taking this too serious, you should be asking yourself why you're taking this so lightly! It's not like you were responsible for letting Jaune become this way!" with a blur of rose petals, Pyrrha felt the Ruby's fist collide with her face. The champion felt the pain radiating in her jaw but felt her aura healing it slowly. She then turned back to Ruby with anger and had her fist reeled back. Her eyes widened however when she saw Ruby. Hot tears were in her eyes as she presented the lower area of her neck, indicating where the three scars she had across her chest.

"Do you think for a moment that I don't regret getting hurt that night?!" Ruby yelled back. "Jaune was in danger and I took a blow for him I didn't know it would tear through my aura!" at this point, Ruby didn't care what the outcome of this talk was. Pyrrha needed to know she wasn't the only one hurting. "and in the end, Yang went off on him causing all of this to be set into motion!" Pyrrha looked stunned at this revelation. "He saved me that night. Do you really think I don't blame myself for what happened? Do you think Ren and Nora don't blame themselves for not being there for him more and when he truly needed it?" Pyrrha stood there for a few moments. Slowly realizing that yes, she was Jaune's partner, but he was also Ruby's first friend. He was the closest thing Ren and Nora had to a brother. He wasn't just hers. He was their friend and ever since he left, she thought she was the only one in pain. Which was far from the truth.

"We miss him too Pyrrha. We want him back as well." Ruby said as she composed herself. "But we also know that he isn't the only goal. We need to find out what really happened at Beacon. And Mistral is the safest bet we have." Ruby straightened her cloak and covered the scars back up. She headed back towards the camp, but not before giving Pyrrha a soft smile. "Ren's cooking dinner. You should come eat with your team." And with that, Ruby headed back into the woods. Leaving Pyrrha to think on what they had just discussed.

 **With Widowmaker. Anima Forrest.**

Amelie had propped herself against one of the nearby trees and slowly watched the embers form their campfire die down. The sun had been down now for a few hours and she was first to be on watch. She had no qualms with this. She actually preferred being up more. A wave of anxiety overcame her however due to her knowing that she would soon have to go to sleep and be plagued with nightmares of the past. It annoyed her to no end because of the lack of sleep but it was manageable due to her slow heartrate. Either way she would rather not be reminded of what happened before she met Jaune.

 ** _"_** ** _Well how bold of you Amelie. I'd say I rather like you as well."_** Those words echoed in her head and her mind clamped shut. She squeezed her eyes shut as the layer of anxiety intensified. She couldn't afford to think back to Gerard. Not when her teammates needed her. With each day, they were getting closer to Mistral and one step closer to finding the ones that turned her into a monster. Now was not the time to be thinking about him.

Thankfully, she heard some snorting to snap herself out of her slight panic attack. She looked over to see if Jaune was the culprit for the bombastic snoring. Instead she saw their hacker Sombra, Snoring up a storm. How Jaune slept through it was beyond her. She chuckled at the loud snoring Sombra was making and her attention was now one the blonde in question. He was sleeping on his side in nothing but a white T-shirt and sweat pants. His blonde hair was disheveled and his breathing was slow, but full of well-earned exhaustion. They traveled farther than any other day before and it was now taking a toll on them. A soft smile formed on her lips as she thought about everything that the three of them went through. Of course, they weren't the happiest of people, but they seemed to be getting along well. Despite their intentions, they were a team and a damn good one at that. She just hoped that the other two saw it that way as well.

"What the-" Amelie grew confused as she heard Jaune start to say something. She got closer to hear what he was saying. "S-stay away dammit!"

"Jaune?" the sniper asked as she knelt down next to her partner. She was about to try and wake him up but he suddenly tossed over his side while his smoke started to appear. Worry was growing within Amelie due to this being the first time she had ever seen Jaune afraid. His smoke was amplifying by the minute and Amelie could see tears starting to brim past Jaune's eyelids.

"Reyes, you son of a bitch! GET BACK!" with this outburst, Jaune's smoke flared one last time before simmering down. Jaune became quiet once more and the only noises occupying the forest were Sombra's snoring and Jaune's slow breaths. However, Amelie was confused beyond belief.

"Who the hell is Reyes?" she asked herself. She needed answers and needed them soon. She learned that Jaune preferred to not share everything about himself. So, asking him was out of the equation. She then turned her head to her other teammate and nodded. If anyone could get her answers on what just happened, it would be Sombra.

 **Alright. I hope this one was alright. No action really. Just more exposition. I intend for it to start picking up soon though. Okay everyone. Real talk. So I have been seeing some feedback on this fic and the biggest qualm I have is that people believe that this is too edgy and the characters are OOC… to which I say you're right. It was never my intention to make these characters strict adaptations. I'm simply trying to take the bases of their personalities and making them react to the situations I create. But I do understand that it is getting a little too edgy. And not good edgy. I am working on this and if this chapter contradicts my statements, well it's a work in progress. I can assure you all that effort is being put in to make each chapter better than the last.**

 **Another thing I want to talk about is that Blake and Yang are personally the hardest characters for me to write. Not to mention that Vol. 4 is my least favorite season so putting my own spin on it is going to be a big challenge. This is all still a work in progress and any critical or supportive feedback is valued.** **Thank you guys for your patience and I really appreciate the support (OVER 600+ FAVS AND FOLLOWS! WOOOOOO!) Schools done with and I got a whole summer to write now. Shout out to my Beta SunWukongMogar for sticking with me and being my beta and definite shout out to Kegi Springfield for the cover art. Alright! Drop a comment or review if you want. Thank you once again and as always you beautiful people BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	26. Chapter 26

**HELLLLOOOOOO! Once more into the breach beautiful people. hope you all like this. I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. ENJOY!**

Chapter 25

Inner thoughts

The room was dimly lit with a few oak bookshelves and a bed occupying most of it. Posters were decorating the room's ceiling, posters of famous huntsman or faunus rights activists indicating that the owner aspired to be a hero or at least change the world for the better. In the center of the room however was a boy browsing through a scrap book.

"Oscar!" he heard his aunt call from downstairs. "Dinner's ready!" Oscar didn't budge and playfully smiled.

"What are we having?!" he called back, knowing his aunt's answer.

"Whatever is on your plate!" he chuckled at her reply and decided not to go further with his banter due to him being famished. He closed the scrapbook that contained newspaper clippings and was about to head to the door when his massive headache returned.

 ** _"_** ** _Oscar."_** the voice called out. He tried to ignore it and continued his way to the door. **_"_** ** _Oscar."_** The voice called out once more.

"I am not hearing this." Oscar said to himself. "I do not have the headmaster of Beacon trapped in my head." He stood still and composed himself before opening the door.

 ** _"_** ** _Like it or not this is how things are Oscar."_** The voice said calmly. **_"_** ** _Now please, just take a few minutes to listen to what I have to say."_** Oscar stood there for a moment, contemplating his options. He then sat down onto the floor and closed his eyes. he decided the faster the voice went away, the better.

"Okay," Oscar said mildly annoyed. "Spit it out." He heard the voice sigh.

 ** _"_** ** _I will be the first to admit that things are not as good as they used to be."_** The voice belonging to the late Headmaster Ozpin said. **_"_** ** _and they are only going to get worse. That is why we need to go to Mistral as soon as possible."_** Oscar groaned at this and decided to stand up.

"If you think that what happened to Beacon will happen to Haven then I think your worrying too much." Oscar replied. "Mistral is basically a fortress now and some of the world's greatest Huntsmen and Huntresses live there. I don't think a grimm invasion will be a-" Oscar was cut off due to his head aching more.

 ** _"_** ** _Oscar,"_** Ozpin started. **_"_** ** _Have you been to Vale recently? During the breech to be precise?"_** Oscar shook his head. He knew though what happened. The terrorist known as the Reaper highjacked a underground train and rigged it with explosives, causing the grim to flood into the city.

"No." Oscar replied. "I haven't." a brief silence resided in Oscar's head.

 ** _"_** ** _I want you to think back to that day."_** Ozpin then said out of nowhere. **_"_** ** _Tell me what you see."_** Oscar chuckled at this and headed to the door.

"Right." He said sarcastically. "Like I know what happened then. How the buildings were somewhat destroyed and how I was face to face with…the…" Oscar stopped mid-sentence and stopped all action. He was there.

 _There was rubble all around him. Buildings were smoking or already toppled to the floor. However, he was there in the middle of an alleyway with eight other people with him. From what he could see, Glynda goodwitch was next to him and in front of him were six girls and one boy. He didn't need to think long to realize that they were students of Beacon. What confused Oscar however were there looks of horror. Even the stoic Glynda Goodwitch, who was infamously known for her scary demeanor looked worried beyond belief. What really caught his attention were three of the students. He forgot their names but he read in one of the newspaper collums he kept that they were the ones responsible for creating the Reaper. Oscar saw the three of them horrified beyond belief. A sense of dread and fear trickled down his back as he looked forward to see something he never wanted to see._

 _The man in front of them was the same person in the newspapers. He flooded the scroll blog posts when the towers were active and he really did strike fear into his heart. Small specks of smoke radiated off the man in front of him. His hood was down and Oscar could feel his blue eyes attempting to burn a hole in his head. Oscar then noticed that the man was smirking._

 _"_ _Good that you could make it Ozpin."_

Oscar gasped and stumbled a bit. He made his way to the edge to his bed and attempted to calm his breathing. To no avail though due to the fear still in his system _._

"What the hell was that." Oscar asked himself. His hands were still shaking and he could feel his heart ready to explode.

 ** _"_** ** _An unpleasant memory."_** Ozpin replied. **_"_** ** _It was the day that we discovered who the Reaper really was."_** Oscar nodded his head and felt his breathing was starting to slow down.

"Jaune Arc?" Oscar asked. He couldn't forget that name even if he tried. He was the son of one of his role models, Alexander Arc. Not to mention that his name was the talk of the whole world when the Arcs announced what really happened to their son.

 ** _"_** ** _Precisely."_** Ozpin replied. **_"_** ** _He isn't the only reason to head to Mistral, but he is the most dangerous reason why."_** Oscar grew confused at this.

"I mean despite the fact that he is a terrorist in the eyes of the world, Why is he the most dangerous?" he heard Ozpin sigh at this.

 ** _"_** ** _You're not the only one with a voice in his head Oscar."_** Ozpin replied. **_"_** ** _And I fear I may be right on who is residing in Mr. Arc's mind."_**

 **With Klein, Schnee Mansion**

The massive halls of the Schnee mansion were of empty of any sound besides the occasional squeak from Weiss Schnee's wheelchair. The heiress preferred to use her automatic chair but she couldn't refuse Klein's offer to push her due to the butler always knowing how to make her life just a bit easier. During their walks, Klein would always talk and attempt to begin conversation. It took him a few times to realize that there wouldn't be much of a response in his attempts but he knew that his voice filled some void in her. every once and a while she would crack a smile at his stumbling or a joke he made.

However, this walk was silent for one specific reason. Every time the heiress's father called for her, there was always some unnamed dread amongst them. Klein was ever so loyal to him but for the past few months that Weiss had been back, the monster that he called master would spare no expense in milking her dry with publicity campaigns to show that the SDC has a "sensitive side." That they were "Hurting." Of course, Klein couldn't say a thing against this, but it didn't change the fact that Arcs were right. Jacque Schnee was a monstrosity, and he couldn't do a damn thing to stop this madness.

"Here we are Miss Schnee." Klein said as they stopped at the two massive doors that lead to Jacque's office. The butler opened one of the doors and propped it so that he could wheel Weiss in.

"You do realize what this means right?" the two heard the president of the SDC growl into a scroll. "It means that despite your efforts, you would be scum among the Faunus degenerates in the streets if it wasn't for me." Klein flinched at his hateful words. "I don't care where it needs to be done. You have a blank check. Just get it DONE!" Jacque slammed his scroll down and pinched the bridge of his nose. Klein decided this would be better than any other time to step in.

"Your daughter is here Mr. Schnee." Jacque looked up to see his daughter in her wheelchair, avoiding eye contact and his eyes narrowed at this.

"Thank you, Klein," Jacque said and waved his hand. "Now leave us be. I'm sure that Whitley needs something. If not, then just wait outside." The butler internally sighed and nodded. He shut the door behind him.

 ** _"_** ** _I'm getting a little tired of his shit if you ask me."_** Klein shook his head to get that little voice out of his head. He looked over his shoulder, back at those two doors and his eyes narrowed. After taking a few looks around, he saw that the coast was clear and pressed his ear against the door.

"I'm assuming the explosion took a bit of your brain as well, considering that you have forgotten your formalities." Klein didn't know whether to feel angry at Jacque or sad for Weiss due to his opening remark, nevertheless, Weiss remained silent. "I will make this brief then." Jacque said. "There is a grand opening of a galla and concert hall in downtown Atlas. You will be there to perform for the audience. To show that the SDC cares for what is happening in the world." Of course, it was another one of these events. Klein mentally groaned, knowing that he would have to find one of Weiss's old recordings of her music. The explosion also damaged her vocal chords a bit so every event she had performed at was a lip-sync rip off. What made it worse was that Klein knew that Weiss was dreading every moment in there. He would see the look of misery on her face every time she came out of those doors.

"And I expect perfect behavior from you. These times as of late have been critical to show that the SDC are not savages." Klein tuned out the rest. This was not new as well. Jacque would boast and banter about the company for a few minutes before sending her out. Klein sighed, now knowing what the schedule around the mansion would be. He turned around and nearly had a heart attack due to Whitley only a few feet in front of him.

"Eavesdropping Klein?" Whitley tsked and took a step forward. "Quite a lowly action for a butler." Klein straightened himself and arched his back to show a perfect posture.

"All I was doing was ensuring what your sister would be up to. So I could make her time here a little easier. She is my responsibility after all." A skeptical look dawned the youngest of the Schnee's for only a moment before his smug look reappeared.

"You do realize your loyalty resides with father foremost, correct?" Whitley retorted. "Imagine if someone told him what you had just told me." Whitley's smirk never left his lips while he said that. But confusion did grow on him when he saw that Klein chuckled a bit. The butler walked forward and leaned into the boy's ear.

"Imagine if someone told him his son kept a few faunus fetish magazines under his bed?" that was all that he needed to say to make the smirk shatter off of Whitley's face. "Then again, he may never know. Perhaps if said son never spoke of this?" Whitley notice that Klein's eyes were red now and the boy recompose himself, knowing that this side of Klein shouldn't be trifled with.

"Very well Klein." Whitley replied. "Just remember where your loyalties lie." Klein gave him a sarcastic curtsey and the boy growled at him before heading on his way. The butler chuckled a bit before his eyes turned back to brown, along with some regret in acting that way.

"Klein!" Jacque called from the other side of the door. The butler opened the door and nodded. "Make sure she is clean and ready by tonight." The man looked down at his daughter and his eyes narrowed a bit. "Remember what we discussed." Klein saw that Weiss gave no response and Jacque ordered Klein out with Weiss. While the butler was making sure that Weiss was fastened appropriately and comfortable, he noticed that his master tapped an icon on his scroll, opening a contact that confused the butler. Klein then grasped the two bars of wheelchair and escorted the heiress out of the room all while having one question in his mind. Once the two were clear out of listening distance, the butler leaned into the girl's ear.

"Forgive me Ms. Schnee, but I have a question to ask." He noticed that Weiss leaned her head towards him, wanting him to go on. "But do you know anyone by the name Geppetto Polendina?"

 **With Widowmaker and Sombra, Anima Forrest:**

"How do you know that name?" Sombra said as she stopped in her tracks. It was only her and Amelie at the moment while Jaune went forward to scout ahead for any towns, abandoned or otherwise due to his smoke allowing him to travel much faster. Amelie thought this would be a better time than ever to ask their intel expert who Reyes was. though Amelie was not expecting her reaction to be so shocked. The two stood there for a moment not knowing what would come next.

"Jaune was screaming that name in his sleep last night." Amelie responded. "From what could see, that name doesn't bring good memories." Sombra looked away for a moment while putting her thumb to her chin, not sure what to say.

"You didn't hear this from me alright?" Sombra asked and the sniper nodded. After taking a breath, Sombra looked back up to Amelie. "Gabriel Reyes was Jaune's teacher of sorts. I exchanged information with him and in turn, he would get me schematics or help me plan out infiltrations into the hotspots of information such as the SDC or Beacon." Amelie nodded at this and Sombra continued.

"Well after about a year of working with Reyes, I started sensing some unknown aura vitals in the outer areas of Vale." Amelie had a look of confusion and Sombra gave her a blank expression. "My aura is augmented amiga. I kind of use it as a radar or to keep tabs on specific people, such as you and Jaune's vitals and aura during the fall of Beacon." Amelie's eyes grew with realization and Sombra nodded.

"I investigated the hotspot of basically a cluster of dispersed aura and after a while of looking around, I saw this kid whose skin looked like it was dripping off his body." Sombra nodded at Amelies's look of disgust. "It was a nasty sight arana. Anyways, I didn't really know what to do. The thing was curled up and sleeping, didn't really want to know what it would do when it woke up. So, I sent an image to the one person that I could trust with what was in front of me." Amelie's eyes narrowed as the two began to walk once more.

"Reyes?" she asked and Sombra smiled.

"Ding Ding! There you go, your catching on." Sombra said while playfully elbowing Amelie. "Yeah, Reyes was the man I went to and I didn't expect him to respond so fast. I mean it was instantaneous. Told me that he would be at my coordinates in two minutes. And man, the guy was true to his word" Sombra chuckled at this memory.

"So, what happened?" Amelie asked and Sombra's chuckle escalated just a bit.

"I don't know why, but the look Reyes had looked like he hit the jackpot." Sombra said while shrugging. "The next thing he does is wake the bastard without warning. I decided to cloak at this time. I was NOT going to have that thing get in a fight let alone touch me. As you would expect, the thing rushed at Reyes and I hate to say this, the thing didn't have a chance. Despite bursting into smoke every time Reyes hit him, it didn't block the pain. Anyways, after about five minutes of Reyes forcefully calming it down, I decided to speed things up and knock him out." Amelie looked a little skeptical at this. "What? It was getting boring and I had a long day prior. It didn't see me come up from behind and knock him out. After that, Reyes told me to help him take whatever that thing was to his place." Amelie remained silent while remaining a little confused about the story.

"Really amiga, I gotta spell it out for you? That thing was Jaune." Amelie's eyes widened at this and Sombra let out a laugh. "Well after a little convincing, Jaune agreed to train with Reyes. And I'm not gonna lie, Reyes guilt tripped the hell out of him after we found out who he was. A few months later, Jaune started his little operation that led you to freeing yourself." Sombra smirked as she saw Amelie processing what she had just said.

"Reyes trained Jaune to kill. While I supplied him with information all around the city. Reaps and I went on a few operations in Vaccuo and Atlas as well. Reyes called them Jaune's "tests" to see how far he progressed and in turn I got loads of info. It was a pretty sweet gig for a while." Amelie noticed that Sombra had a somber look as they continued on. "Then I found out that night you and I met, Reyes offed himself with a bullet. The last person that saw him was Ozpin and I guess Reyes knew he would lose and wanted to avoid a confrontation. From what I've seen from Jaune, it hasn't phased him much." Amelie looked over to Sombra with a hint of curiousity.

"Why is that?" Amelie asked and Sombra looked back at her. a sympathetic smile formed on her lips.

"Well despite having excellent results, not to mention sheer rage as Jaune's motivator, Reyes was heartless in the training. I stopped by every once and a while and let me tell you, there was no holding back. If Jaune messed up, Reyes would cease the opportunity to rip his arm off, then reattach it so he could rip it off again." Both shuddered at this and after a few moments of silence, Amelie decided to speak up.

"Well if last night was any indication, I would say that some part of him was phased by Reyes being dead." the sniper said and Sombra nodded. "Though this only started just recently. I honestly didn't know if Jaune would have told me anything if I went to him about this." Sombra chuckled at this and nodded once more.

"Yeah. No worries amiga, but this stays between us." Amelie nodded at this and soon after felt her scroll vibrate. She opened it up to see an Icon of Jaune's face.

"How's it going Reaps?" Sombra said, causing Jaune to groan a bit.

"All good on my end. A few bandits here and there but no trouble." Jaune replied. Amelie then saw another icon appear on her scroll. "Just sent you my location. We'll set up there for the night." A smile crept on Sombra's face.

"Oh? Taking an easy day? This wasn't even half of what we went through yesterday." Sombra replied and a sigh could be heard from Jaune.

"I was going to let us have a break from the traveling," Amelie knew that Jaune was smirking at this. "But since you seem eager to traveling more," Amelie grew surprised when Sombra snatched the scroll from her.

"Ohshitgrimjustcameoutofthewoodsgottagobye!" Sombra rushed and ended the call. A few moments of silence passed until the two started to snicker. That snickering escalated into laughter and soon the two were leaning against each other to keep themselves from stumbling.

"Yknow he's going to lecture you tonight." Amelie said in between laughs.

"Eh the bastard deserves it if he thinks he can screw with me." the two shared one more laugh before heading further down the path. Unaware of the pair of violet eyes hidden in the treeline, aimed on Amelie. Along with a scorpion tail twitching with anticipation.

 **And scene. I gotta admit I despise myself when there is no action AND JUST EXPOSITION. But it is needed. Not to worry though. If the end of the chapter is any indication, we will get action soon. Just want to say shout outs to my beta SunwukongMogar for helping me out with this. Not to mention the numerous people that have PMed me to share their thoughts and input. It really helps and brings new ideas to the table. I hope you all enjoyed my perspective being on Klein during Weiss's scene. Personally he and Alfred Pennyworth are in my top butlers in fiction and I love how he is the reiteration of the seven dwarves. Hmmm what else? Oh! We get more hints at Reyes. I got big plans for that. Mwhahahahahahaha! Anyways, I hope you guys and gals liked this. Like always leave a comment or review. Even drop a PM if you want. BE FIERCE EVERYONE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey Hey! Not too shabby cranking out these chapters. Takes me back to January where I completed a whole arc in a week. Anyways, I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. they belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. ENJOY!**

Chapter 26

Loathed reunions

 _There was only darkness and destruction as far as Yang could see. She woke up in a daze and grunted in pain. Even in her dreams her arm ached. She clutched it in order to soothe the pain and her eyes widened. She looked down to see that her arm was there and intact. As if it had never been cut off in the first place. She smiled at this and stood up. Her smile faltered as soon as she looked around._

 _All around her was debris and fire. Smoke clouded her mind and she started to cough. She lowered herself closer to the floor and once again looked around so she could get a better view of her surroundings. Her eyes widened even more when she realized where she was. The destroyed tables and burning banners indicated that she was back in the Beacon mess hall. She felt a sense of dread overwhelm her and she once more stood up to get out of the building._

 _"_ _PLEASE!" Yang turned and saw the white fang grunt she saw all those months ago terrified out of his mind. He was holding the bleeding stump where his leg used to be. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Yang could also make out that some of antlers on his head were snapped off, she didn't need to guess who was responsible._

 _"_ _You wanted a war." A sudden chill crawled up her spine as she heard that all too familiar voice. Through the smoke she could make out the Reaper aiming one of his shot guns at the faunus. With nothing more to say a deafening gunshot erupted throughout the burning room. a few seconds later he turned to Yang. She could feel his red eyes pierce through her. Her feet were planted to the ground but she noticed that she had Ember Celica to defend herself._

 _"_ _YAAAAGH!" with a roar, she started to throw every blast she had at him. The Reaper saw this and slowly turned to her. He then began walking at a slow pace. Every blast that made contact with him only erupted that area into smoke. He was halfway to her now and it was then that his cloak began to melt off him. It didn't take long for Yang's body to go rigid and see that Jaune was now making his way to her. he was in his classic hoodie and jeans but that look that she saw all those months ago still stayed on his face. Crocea Mors was in one of his hands and she assumed that it was meant for her. What scared her now was that Jaune's skin started to dissolve. It didn't take long for his skin to completely fall off his body. His skull with some muscle attached to it was all that remained. Yang wanted to scream at this but no sound left her mouth. Jaune was now only a foot away from her and his crimson eyes still bore into her soul._

 _ **"**_ _ **WHY SO SCARED YANG?!"**_ _Jaune roared at her._ _ **"**_ _ **YOU DID THIS TO ME!"**_ _without warning, Jaune readied Crocea Mors and swung at her neck, right where her scar was. Before she felt the pain, she let out a blood curdling scream._

"AAAAAAGH!" Yang screamed as she shot up from her mattress. She lost her balance due to her only having one arm and fell back. She didn't care at the moment due to her only hand clutching the area where her heart resided. She could still feel it violently beating. It took her a few minutes but she finally got a hold of her devices and sat up from her spot.

"Just a dream." She said as she looked forward and saw her front door splintered and somewhat damaged, indicating that Blake slamming it shut was no dream. She sighed at this and decided to get up and at least try to keep the dump she lived in somewhat sanitary.

It had only been a day but Yang knew Blake wasn't coming back. She couldn't tell whether to be sad or angry at this revelation. It would only be a matter of time before the feds found out where she was staying and it would be even sooner if she kept up these nightmares. Screaming while waking up was a no go when it came to hiding in plain sight.

Yang groaned in frustration as she felt the aching in her arm return. Her phantom pains would come at the worst times and despite being able to use her aura to numb it at times, it didn't keep the pain from leaving permanently. The pain in her stump erupted and she let out a cry while dropping the dust pan she had in her hand, causing the broken glass and wood splints she had collected to scatter across the floor.

"Dammit." Yang said as she started to pick up some of the shards. She struggled to keep herself balanced for a bit but she soon stabilized herself on one knee. However, while picking some of the mess up. She could hear something coming from behind her. She stopped for a moment, not knowing what the noise was. It was distorted and ominous, but what she could make out for sure was that it sounded like tearing.

She didn't have time to turn around as she felt a blade pass by her face, causing a cut to bleed down her cheek. She rolled to the side and looked to see a figure dive kicking the area that she was in moments ago. The figures foot smashed into the floor boards and Yang got up to defend herself. She switched her stance however to keep her left arm in front. As the dust settled, Yang saw that her assailant was a woman. Her black and red theme battle gear reminded her of Blake's yukata for some reason. The roman had pitch black hair and her skin was pale white. What stood out was her eyes. They were red, just like Jaune's.

Yang didn't give the woman any time to retrieve the sword she threw as the blonde reeled her left arm back for a punch. The woman had a flat look on her face as she ducked underneath the punch and used Yangs weight against her, causing Yang to be thrown into a wall. This only caused Yang to grow angrier and she reached for a sharp piece of splintered wood. With another cry of rage, she turned towards the woman and made a stabbing motion. Once more, the woman dodged, this time to the side and followed up by kneeing Yang in the gut. Yang gasped as the air left her system. She collapsed to the floor and felt her aura patch up her bruises.

"Pathetic." Yang heard the woman say as she picked up her katana. Yang tightened her only fist in rage and while her intruder faced away from her, she ignited her semblance and from her laying form, rocketed towards her. Her fist was inches away from the woman's face. The only reason Yang didn't follow through with her attack was because of the blade pressed against her neck. The two were locked in a staring contest and Yang saw that the woman was looking at her as if she was testing her, examining her face and her stance. A few moments of silence resided in the room before the woman pulled her blade back. Yang flinched just a bit at this and she saw that the woman was smirking.

"Despite your terrible technique, you have promise." Yang heard her say. "And what kind of mother would I be if I killed my only daughter?" this made Yang freeze in place. Throughout the fight, she couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt as if she had met the woman in front of her before. That was when Yang realized she was the woman in the photo that Uncle Qrow would carry on him. Yang didn't know whether to feel elated or enraged. What she did know however, was that she had a million questions forming in her head.

"What do you want?" Yang growled. She felt for the first time in a while, her back straightening in confidence. Red eyes were locked once more in a staring contest before Raven broke eye contact and chuckled.

"It's good you take after me in formalities." She said and sheathed her blade. "I also hope you take after my reluctance for help as well. It would be nice to know that someone understands how degrading it can be to ask for help." Yang narrowed her eyes at her mother.

"I'll ask again." Yang said. "What do you want." Raven reciprocated the glare and after a few moments leaned against the wall with a smirk on her face.

"Well if you're going to make me spit it out," she said. "I need your help on a certain individual." Yang still remained reluctant as she cocked an eyebrow. "Your uncle told me where to find you and also told me you know this person." Yang let out a dismissed huff.

"Kind of taking a blow to your ego for asking for help." Yang replied. "this guy must be a big problem for someone like yourself." Now it was Raven's turn for her eyes to narrow.

"The bastard killed half of my tribe. My family." Yang's aura flared a bit when she heard Raven say that last word. "I thought he would just be a thorn in my side. Instead he made things personal." The two stood there for a moment before Yang spoke up.

"Then why come to me. Being "pathetic" and all." Raven ignored the sarcasm in her daughter's voice while rolling her eyes.

"Because he said your name when he saw me." Raven said as she walked forward. "The reason I need your help is because you are my best shot at finding him. You are my best option at finding the Reaper." Yang's eyes widened and Raven saw that this was a sore spot for her daughter. 'good' she thought as she took another step forward. She then unsheathed her sword and opened a portal. "We can discuss this more if you come with me. Yang's eyes were holding a combination of fury and skepticism as she looked at her mother.

"And if I refuse?" Yang asked, only for Raven to chuckle.

"Then you rot in a Vale prison or be executed. I just sent the Vale authorities our location with your identification." Yang's eyes widened with shock and cursed out loud. "So, what will it be?" Raven asked with a smirk. Yang sighed and looked back at the rotting apartment. She then walked up to her mother's side and glared at her.

"As if you gave me a choice." She said as the two walked through the portal.

 **With Jaune, OniYuri village**

"It's about time." Jaune said smirking as he saw his two teammates now in his field of vision. He looked around his surroundings one last time to make sure there were no bandits in the area before setting his bag down. Abandoned city or not, the place that Jaune stumbled on would suffice for a good camping sight.

"Nice place Reaps." Sombra said while playfully elbowing him. He chuckled at this and nodded at Amelie who gave him a gentle smile.

"OniYuri. I have never heard of this place before." Amelie said as she set her things down next to Jaune's bag. Jaune was about to agree with her, but not before Sombra stepped in.

"Eh. Nothing too big on this town." She said while resting on a nearby bench. "Some people thought that living in Mistral was no good so they tried to make it on their own. Even try to make their own kingdom." Jaune's eyebrows rose due to never hearing about something like this. "But you know how it goes for most villages out of the kingdom's reach." Jaune looked down for a moment as he realized how much death occurred in the village they were now residing in. The three didn't need to say it, but they knew that like always, the grimm came out on top.

"So," Jaune said, breaking everyone out of the Somber trance. "Mistral is about a week to a week and a half travel. If we rough it out and travel a bit at night, I'm sure we can make it sooner." He then looked at his team who nodded at this. "Sounds good, I guess we should start setting up camp." He then looked around the old buildings and smirked a bit. "Maybe scavenge for any supplies in these buildings. Even use one of them as shelter if we need to. The clouds are looking pretty dense." He then looked to Amelie who seemed to be in a daze of sorts. As if she was in deep in thought. What concerned the blonde was that she was staring right at him. "Amelie, you alright?" she snapped out of her train of thought and nodded a bit.

"Oh? That was some intense staring arana. Jaune catching your fancy?" Amelie was about to blush a bit at the hacker's quip but not before she saw Sombra wink at her, knowing she was concerned about Jaune shouting Reyes's name in his sleep. Amelie looked to her partner to see him roll his eyes and turn his back to them.

"I'm gonna get some firewo-" he stopped in his tracks and his back arched. Sombra and Amelie grew confused at this but decided to stay quiet. They saw Jaune tilt his head torwards them, in order to listen more intently. He then walked further out into the courtyard. Amelie and Sombra's eyes widened as they saw Jaune reveal his weapons. His aura circled around him and he soon was dawning his black cloak and battle attire. The other two readied their weapons as well and made their way to Jaune in order to watch his back. everyone grew still and Amelie decided if she could hear anything as well. Her eyes widened slightly as she began to hear fast paced footsteps heading their way.

Amelie saw Jaune go wide eyed and look back to her and Sombra. "Spread out!" he shouted. As soon as the two did what he said a figure pounced over the building behind them and rushed right at Jaune. He switched his shotguns into his two matchetes and blocked the incoming strikes. Jaune's aura manifested around his face and his mask soon formed.

"Ooooh scary." the man in front of Jaune sarcastically said. From what Jaune could see, the man had a hunched back, and had a face that said that he wasn't all there. His smile was distorted and twisted while his two wrist blades clashed against Jaune's machetes. Jaune couldn't tell at the moment due to being busy facing off with an ambush, but he swore he heard Amelie gasp. He didn't have time to notice though as he shoved the man away and sliced at him horizontally, only to feel his blades tear through the man's brown coat. As his teammates rushed to his aid, Jaune heard the man cackle and he saw him lean back on his blades, only to spin his legs in a windmill like motion, kicking the three of them all back.

"You guys okay?!" Jaune shouted to his teammates. Sombra looked a little dazed but gave him a thumbs up. "Widowmaker?!" Jaune called out. He then looked her way to see her petrified. Her rifle was shaking in her hands and her mouth was slightly agape. Even from his distance he could hear her shaky breath. Apparently, their assailant saw this and cackled a bit.

"It is soooo good to see you again my little spider." He said as he folded his hands together. Jaune shuddered a bit at the way he said this. "We have so much more catching up to do." In those moments of blind fear, Amelie readied her rifle and fired haphazardly at the man. He grinned at this and jumped up above them, making Jaune the prime target for Amelie's bullets.

"Shit!" Jaune yelled as he phased through the barrage of bullets. Due to his aura being fixed by Pyrrha, his aura worked a little more normally. Although he could still turn parts of his body into smoke, he needed to see or sense the danger in order not to take any hits. This new handicap was tested as each bullet passed through him. He sighed in relief due to none actually hitting him and he looked up to see their attacker about to land on Widowmaker. His eyes narrowed and he propelled himself towards her. His lower half was in smoke now and he tackled his partner out of the way. The man grinned at this and swung one of his wrist blades down on Jaune. Only for the reaper to pull out one of his blades and block the attack. The two were once more interlocked in a struggle but this time his assailant having the upper hand.

"Who are you?" Jaune growled as he dematerialized and made his way to his partners side. It only took a few seconds for Sombra to be there too. Jaune winced as he saw the bruise on her face, but sighed as he saw the hacker's aura beginning to heal it. The three looked back to the man who was cackling.

"Apologies. My name is Tyrian. And besides the fact that you have made yourself the bane to my goddess's existence," Jaune's face contorted in disgust as he saw Tyrian lick his lips. "You also have something that belongs to me." Jaune saw that he was looking at Amelie and his grasp around his blades tightened. This was the man that Amelie mentioned at the Vytal festival. He was responsible for her torture when she was captured. Jaune didn't need any more banter to know what Tyrian did. Jaune then gritted his teeth as his blades shifted back into his shotguns.

"Sombra," Jaune said and caught her attention. She was also aiming her gun at him. "Get Amelie to cover. She is in no position to fight right now." He looked down at her kneeling form and a sense of déjà vu overtook him. She looked just as distraught as the day they found Cinder with Adam Taurus. And if her reckless firing was any indication, she was in no shape to fight this thing. "Once she's safe I need you to back me up." He saw her nod at this and she then took Amelie by the side.

"You got it." Sombra replied as she saw the traumatized look in Amelie's eyes. "Just hold out where I find a place to hide her. The hacker then hurled her translocator across the courtyard and instantly teleported to said location along with her teammate. Jaune saw Tyrian become a little agitated at this and as he took a step towards their direction, only to greeted by a barrage of shotgun blasts.

Tyrian dove to the side as he rounded about with his wrist blades at the ready. Jaune complied to this advance and shifted one of his guns back into a blade. Tyrian sent a straight to Jaune's face, only for him to duck and deliver and uppercut with the hilt of his blade. While Tyrian was dazed for a moment, Jaune slashed a downward strike with his blade and caught a bit of his shoulder, causing another cut in his coat. Tyrian growled at this as he spun around and delivered a spinning kick to Jaune's face. Both staggered back for a moment, but Tyrian was the first to recover. He bolted forward with his blades readied in a thrusting motion.

Jaune saw this and dropped both his weapons, all to grab Tyrian by the wrists. The maniacal man's blades were centimeters away from Jaunes lower torso. Both of them grunted in another struggle and Jaune groaned just a bit as one of the blades started to pierce through his armor. In those moments however, Jaune let go of one of Tyrian's arms and spun to the left of Tyrian, all while his machete formed back in his grasp. If he landed this just right, he would be able to lop off the psycho's head clean off. To ensure this Jaune laced his blade with his aura. A trick he taught himself during the nights he was on watch. His smoke laced around the matchete and added another layer that made it have a sharper edge. With a cry of anger, Jaune slammed his blade on Tyrian and the impact caused the dust around them to shockwave out.

A few seconds passed by and as Jaune thought he was victorious, he felt his blade struggle against something. He couldn't make it out at first but as the dust settled, he saw that Tyrian's coat was discarded and in its place, was a scorpion tail that had wrapped itself around his machete.

"SUPRIIIIISE!" Tyrian cackled and made an upward slash at Jaune, knocking his mask off. Jaune stumbled back a bit and readied his shotgun. He then fired a few blasts towards the now known faunus, only for Tyrian to leap above him and swing a double handed strike. Jaune gritted his teeth as he dove to the side. His hood was lowered now and he once more opened fire on Tyrian. He saw the faunus roll his eyes at the futile attempt and rolled to the side, following with a pounce, this time his tail was ready to strike as well. Jaune felt time slow as the tail grew closer and right before it made contact with his skin, Jaune de-materialized into smoke. Tyrian laughed at this for a moment before having a puzzled expression. Jaune's black and red smoke began to circle at his feet and before Tyrian could do anything, Jaune materialized right behind him and wrapped one of his arms around Tyrian's neck while holding the central area of his tail so the faunus couldn't swing it wildly. Tyrian began to struggle and Jaune kicked one of Tyrian's legs out from underneath him so he would be off balance. In those moments, Jaune began to revel in the gags and exasperated breaths of the maniac. His reveling morphed into confusion though as he noticed that Tyrian was laughing in between gasps.

Before Jaune knew it, he felt Tyrian's tail wrap around his arm and in a sudden rush, he was thrown over his shoulder and through the courtyard statue, indicating what the town was called. Jaune grunted as he tried to get up, but winced as he was still not yet used to this type of physical pain. He then let out a cry as Tyrian stomped on his back. he then heard his laughter echo through his ears along with the ringing that was occurring in his head. He looked up in a daze as he saw the maniac's violet eyes narrowed on him while his tail was reeled back to strike. In those moments when Tyrian's tail was striking down, Jaune did his best to focus so he could dissolve, but despite his efforts, he couldn't focus in this daze he had. He braced himself for the pain but instead heard something. For some reason, it sounded familiar. It wasn't a gunshot, but to him, it felt like something was just ignited.

As Jaune looked back up to Tyrian, he saw a projectile race flash by the faunus's temple. Tyrian stopped what he was about to do and looked up only to be greeted with another object being hurled at his face. Tyrian took the impact in full force and staggered back a bit. Jaune proceeded to get up and as his senses were coming back to him, his eyes widened as he saw a bronze, circular shield laying on the ground with two very familiar insignias engraved on it.

"You have got to be kidding me." Jaune grumbled as he saw a dark aura surrounded the shield and it was soon out of Jaune's sight. He looked up to see where it went and he felt his heart clench as he saw her. He recognized that bronze and red color scheme anywhere in the world of Remnant. In the distance, about a few dozen meters away, he saw Pyrrha Nikos along with his former team there, weapons drawn and ready to fight.

 **And scene. Damn cliffhangers am I right? Now just two things I want to say if people find this confusing or think Pyrrha's appearance is a deus ex macchina, that all will be explained next chapter. It was intentional and not a plot hole I overlooked. Also, I hope I didn't nerf Jaune too much but I wanted to show a contrast in fighting styles during each arc. In this arc, he is more vulnerable but no longer decomposes and regenerates. Basically, he's exchanging one weakness for another. Just wanted to say that and clear that up. I want to thank SunwukongMogar for helping me out once again as my beta and also BioshockerN7 for his input. Another thing I want to mention is that I have been helping BioshockerN7 with his "From Huntsman to Soldier" story. (Basically, a Jaune/ Soldier 76 story. If you haven't checked it out I highly recommend it) it has been a long time since it has been updated but I just want to assure you all that the story isn't dead. Alright I said what I needed to say, drop a comment, review or PM if you want and as always, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Helloooo everyone. Hope you guys and gals enjoy this latest installment of Reaping with sorrow. I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. they belong to the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. Enjoy everyone.**

Chapter 27

The urge to protect

 **With RPNR, five minutes prior.**

 _"_ _Today's schedule consists of?!" Nora asked the group with the most excitement she could muster._

 _"_ _Walking!" Ruby reciprocated with a smile on her face. For her, it had been a while since she felt truly happy and Nora seemed to make it her mission to change that._

 _"_ _With a side of?!" Nora asked with the same high energy._

 _"_ _Walking." Ren replied with a monotone voice. This caused Ruby and Nora to giggle at his flat expression. The group soon fell silent to enjoy their surroundings of the forest._

 _"_ _Mistral is a lot farther than I expected." Ruby said with a hint of wonder. This caught Ren's attention as he walked up to Ruby's side._

 _"_ _Ruby," he said grasping her attention. "How long did you think this trip would take?" Ruby put her thumb to her chin, indicating she was in deep thought. That deep thought turned to frustration as she looked back to Ren._

 _"_ _I don't know!" she exclaimed that amused the rest of them. "I grew up on an island!" Things weren't so far away!" this caught Pyrrha's attention as she looked at the rose._

 _"_ _That may be true, but still." She said while smirking a bit. "How long did you think it would take." This caused Ruby to start estimating with her hands as if she was balancing out a scale._

 _"_ _One or two weeks?" she said and it was Nora's turn to step in._

 _"_ _WHAT?!" the bomber exclaimed wide eyed. Ruby reeled back at her eccentric reaction._

 _"_ _Maybe three weeks! I'm sorry alright!" Ruby said while waving her arms frantically. This once again caused a fit of laughter within the group and as the laughter died down, Pyrrha stepped in._

 _"_ _Well with the new travel schedule we all agreed to, I could say that I would only take us two more weeks at most." The champion said as she smiled down at Ruby, who smiled back. After Ruby and Pyrrha had their discussion a few days prior, Ruby proposed the idea of alternating days of travel. One day they would and travel a bit at night, and the other they would take it easy and rest early. This compromise not only improved the daily distance they traveled, but also the group as a whole became easier to be around. Ruby then looked back to Pyrrha to see her have a determined smile on her face. The rose smiled at this, knowing things were finally getting better._

 _"_ _Hey is that a town up ahead?" Nora called out which got the rest of the groups attention. Pyrrha pulled out the map and grew a look a look of confusion._

 _"_ _The map says the next town isn't for another twenty miles." Pyrrha said and Ruby went by her side to confirm this. As they were looking at the map, Ruby noticed in the corner of her eye that Ren was acting a little weird. As if a sense of dread overcame him when he looked at the town._

 ** _BLAM! BLAM!_**

 _The four of them looked back at the town wide eyed as they heard the sudden gunfire echo all around them. With the four of them nodding, they readied their weapons and headed towards the town. The adrenaline in their systems made them absent of all fear as they heard the sounds of gunfire and blades clashing against each other grow louder._

 _As they entered the town, they saw two figures fighting in the distance. They were too far away to make out who they were but what stood out was that one of them had a tail of sorts. Ruby looked at her team and Pyrrha nodded up to the rooftops above them. Ruby grinned and launched herself onto the roof while turning Crescent Rose into its sniper form. Pyrrha then looked to Ren and Nora as they both nodded and followed her further into the town._

 _When they got closer, they saw the ferocity in each of their strikes and noticed that the faunus's opponent was losing his edge in the fight. That is until they all saw him dissipate into smoke and appear behind the scorpion. Pyrrha stopped in her tracks as her eyes widened. The three of them were shocked to finally see him after all of the months of tracking him down. His hood was lowered and they could now see that his face was a bit cut and bruised as he was suffocating the man. Pyrrha was about to step in until the faunus's tail wrapped around Jaune Arc's arm and threw the blonde over his shoulder, making him crash through the concrete statue that indicated what the town was called._

 _Pyrrha gasped as she rushed forward. She picked up her speed as she saw the faunus stomp on his back with his tail ready to strike. With all the fury she could muster, the champion hurled her new javelin Milo Mors at the man, which brushed past his face. She smiled at this due to it being a successful distraction as she threw Akuko at blinding speeds, the shield slammed into the faunus's face and the reaction was him stumbling back. She then heard Jaune cough a bit as he struggled to get up. As Pyrrha approached him, he looked up and saw her shield. The champion used her semblance to retrieve both of her weapons and Jaune followed them so he could lay his eyes on her and his former team, only to say one thing._

 _"_ _You have got to be kidding me."_

 **Current time**

Ren and Nora rushed to Jaune's side as they helped him up. The blonde let out a groan of discomfort as he rolled his neck. He let out a sigh of frustration as he saw his former partner walk up to him. Her posture was straight and her face was neutral. Before she could say anything though, he put his hand up to silence her.

"As much as I would love to hear how long it has taken you to find me, we have more pressing matters to attend to." Jaune said as he summoned his weapons and turned to face Tyrian who had recovered from the sudden impact of Akuko. A look of irritation and anger was written on the faunus's face as he eyed the four in front of him. He scanned his surroundings and his eyes widened as he saw Ruby Rose aiming her rifle at him on a nearby rooftop. A few moments later the group grew confused as Tyrian began laughing hysterically.

"HAHAHAHA OH THIS IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!" Tyrian said as he clasped his hands together. "First the Reaper," he said as he pointed to Jaune, who growled at him in response. "Then my little spider," everyone besides Jaune grew confused as he said that. "And now the rose has entered the fray." As he said this, he pointed at Ruby. "If I kill and retrieve the three of you, oh my goddess will surely love me." Jaune's brow furrowed as he heard this and by his side he heard Pyrrha mumble.

"Cinder." Jaune grew confused at this. Did they really think that Cinder was the mastermind behind this attack? Jaune was about to respond but Tyrian cut him off with a sinister chuckle.

"Only in her WILDEST DREAMS!" Tyrian roared as he charged at the four of them. Ruby began to open fire on him from the roof, but all her shots were being deflected by Tyrian's tail. The scorpion spun on his feet to cause a spin attack with his wrist blades. The sharp blades clashed with Pyrrha's shield and Ren's Stormflower which caught the faunus in a lock. Jaune and Nora took this opportunity to rush and try to at least get some hits in. Jaune de-materialized into smoke so he could travel underneath him while Nora attacked from above. Jaune was about to rise from the ground with his machetes but noticed that Tyrian had a sick grin plastered on his face. Jaune noticed that Tyrian's wrists ejected small machine gun barrels that were pointing at Nora.

"LOOK OUT!" Jaune shouted as he erupted from the smoke and tackled Nora out of the gunfire that erupted from Tyrian. Thankfully the bullets phased through Jaune and the two-landed back onto the ground. they looked up to see that Tyrian won in the stand-off against his other teammates and used the weight of Ren and Pyrrha to spin them off balance while kicking them to the side.

"You okay?" Jaune heard to his left as he saw Nora with a concerned look. Jaune looked down to see his smoky aura patch up a few bullet holes and he nodded as he helped his former teammate up.

"Aura will patch it up." He said and noticed Nora's surprised look, probably due to his voice being back to the way it used to be. "It's a long story." He said as he looked back at Tyrian who had his sights on Ruby. While Ren and Pyrrha were dazed, the scorpion leapt to the roof where Ruby was and charged at her all while cackling. Jaune cursed at this, knowing that Ruby couldn't hold out against someone like Tyrian for long. Before Tyrian could lay even one attack on her however, Jaune saw an outline of violet aura for a split second and he smiled at this. Before his former teammates could ask him why he wasn't doing anything to help Ruby, they saw a woman appear right to the side of Tyrian who landed a solid kick to his side. The faunus stumbled to the edge of the rooftop while the woman hurled a device across the courtyard and at Jaune's feet. She ran over to Ruby and before the scythe wielder could do anything, the hacker grabbed a hold of her and activated her translocator, appearing by Jaune's side with the rose in tow.

"Ooooh." They all heard Ruby groan while clutching her stomach. "That felt too weird." this in turn, made Sombra laugh.

"Happens to all first timers rojo." Sombra said while slapping her back. The other three members of RPNR were confused by the sudden appearance. Jaune didn't keep his eyes off their recovering attacker but thought it was necessary to make introductions.

"Former team and friends, this is Sombra. Sombra, former team and friends." This made RPNR a little shocked to hear a casual tone coming from him and before they could ask, Sombra stepped in.

"We've met before." Sombra said while making sure her SMG was loaded, "Back at Ozpin's tower during the festival. Elevator doors opened to them aiming their guns at me." Jaune chuckled at this while the others had a sense of realization overcome them as they remembered her with the other woman that night all those months ago.

"Is Widowmaker alright?" Jaune asked Sombra and she winked at him.

"Don't worry hermano." Sombra replied. "She's safe and sound." As much as Jaune wanted to question this, they realized that they didn't have the time due to Tyrian recovering and currently charging at them Sombra and Nora jumped to the left while Pyrrha and Ren dove to the right. Jaune charged straight forward while firing his shotguns with ferocity that still caught RPNR off guard. When Tyrian got in range of Jaune's reach, the blonde pulled his fist back and infused his aura so he could lay an aura infused punch on the faunus. Before Tyrian could counter, Jaune dissipated into smoke and clouded the scorpion's vision. This caused Tyrian to thrash around haphazardly as dust rounds pelted him from all sides. In frustration, Tyrian performed a spin attack to blow the smoke away from him. He grinned to see that this attempt worked, but his eyes widened slightly soon after due to Ruby rocketing his way from above with the business end of Crescent Rose aimed at his chest.

In those moments however, Jaune saw Tyrian reel his tail back. The blonde's eyes widened as he only saw ferocity on Ruby's face, indicating that she couldn't see what Tyrian was planning. Jaune began to charge at the faunus but saw that he was too late. Tyrian grew a sick grin and wrapped his tail around Ruby's waist and threw her into a nearby wall. Tyrian looked up to see the wall she was thrown into was the clock tower and his grin grew more twisted when he saw the massive bell at the top was being suspended by rotting rope. With a sharp cackle, Tyrian opened fire from his wrist guns. The bullets ripped through the rope which caused the bell to plummet right onto Ruby.

"RUBY!" NPR shouted as they tried to get to her in time. Even though they infused their aura into their legs, they were too far away to make it in time. Not to mention that Tyrian somehow appeared before them while blocking their path. Sombra cursed at this due to not having a good shot at throwing her translocator and in those moments right before the bell squashed Ruby, they all saw a stream of black smoke rocketing its way toward her. It's intertwining patterns looked frantic as it picked up more speed and as soon as the smoke made contact with Ruby, it's upper half formed into Jaune as he tackled her out of the way. The two tumbled a bit due to Jaune's speed. When Ruby recovered and got a sense of her surroundings, she realized that Jaune saved her and gave him a thankful smile.

Jaune got up and helped her up as well, all while having a smirk on his face. "Now we're even Crater Face." he chuckled at her pout and was about to summon his weapons back until the all of them heard a slashing noise echo through the town.

"GHAAAA!" Jaune screamed as he held his side. He and Ruby looked down to see the tip of Tyrian's tail in between them with Jaune's blood interlaced with smoke dripping off the tip. Jaune looked to his side though and grew confused as he saw another Tyrian blocking Sombra and his former team's path. The only issue was that none of them were doing anything. They were just standing still as if they were in a trance.

 **BLAM!**

Before he could call out to Sombra, saying it was an illusion, a sharp gunshot echoed through the town and a female yelp could be heard. Jaune sighed a bit with relief, knowing that the illusionist who was messing with Sombra was now out of the picture, he looked up past the town and along the tree line to see a glint that looked as if it was reflecting off a scope.

Jaune's eyes widened as he ducked while grabbing Ruby and his wounded side as another gunshot went off. Jaune didn't see what happened, but all he heard was the familiar sound of a bullet tearing through flesh.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHH!" Jaune heard Tyrian shriek and he looked up to see his teammates finally coming back to their senses. He then turned around to see that Tyrian's tail was shot clean off at about the halfway mark. Jaune shifted back to get some distance from the faunus who was writhing in agony and saw him look out into the tree line.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Tyrian screamed as his back arched once more in pain. Jaune saw that Sombra and NPR were standing in front of him with their weapons ready, only to hear him pathetically whisper and wimper. "She'll forgive you. She'll forgive you." before limping away from the battle with what was left of his tail in between his legs.

As the others lowered their weapons while catching their breath, they heard a sharp grunt come from Jaune. The four of them turned around and saw him, clutching his side that was bleeding profusely while Ruby was with him. Pyrrha was the first to react as she gasped and rushed to his side. As the rose and the champion helped him, he let out a sharp gasp as the movement stung immensely.

"Turns out the bastard wasn't alone." Jaune said as he looked to Ruby and Pyrrha who were confused. He looked to see Sombra with a look of confusion as well. "There is only one illusionist I know of. Must have been his back up to deal with you four." he saw the look of simmering anger on Sombra's face as she heard this. From what Jaune could tell, she hated being manipulated. Jaune got to his feet and took a few breaths while still grasping his wound. He looked down at it, confused why his aura wasn't reacting to it like usual.

"Have to admit I nearly had to step in for a second there." Jaune's concern over his aura was ceased as he saw a familiar man jump off a nearby rooftop. A massive sword holstered on his back and his grizzled features indicated that he had been in the huntsman business for a while. Jaune looked to his side and saw Ruby's face brighten with joy as she bolted to the man.

"UNCLE QROW!" she squeed as the man gave her a warm smile.

"Glad that your safe pipsqueak." He said and chuckled at her small pout. His smile disappeared as his eyes laid upon the wounded blonde who was glaring at him along with his hacker teammate that the huntsman met back in Vale. Before either of them could say anything, Ruby stepped in.

"Uncle Qrow, who was that? What's going on?" Qrow looked down at his niece for a few moments before looking back at Jaune. He folded his arms and smirked a bit.

"What's your favorite fairy tale kid?" What caught Qrow off guard was the hard glare he received from the red-haired champion that almost became the fall maiden. He chuckled once more and scratched the back of his head. There was a lot of explaining to do.

 **With Tyrian**

"GAAAH!" Tyrian choked back the pain once more as he staggered through the woods. His tail flexed and flared with a burning sensation. He leaned against a tree to catch his breath as he thought about the punishment he would receive from his goddess. He shivered at the thought and decided to press onward.

"You're lucky she let you live." Tyrian turned around with anger in his eyes as he saw Emerald Sustrai grasping her shoulder. He chuckled a bit as he saw the blood trickle down her arm but soon retracted as his tail flared up again. "She had a clear shot at your head." Emerald noticed Tyrian was confused at this.

"After everything we did to her, you'd think she would just finish me off." He grunted and Emerald rolled her eyes at him.

"Beats me." she said with a shrug. "Maybe she wants to see you suffer." At this Tyrian's ears perked. Even if his tail made him feel like he was in hell, he couldn't help but grin.

"Two can play at this game." He said with a choked cackle as he traveled further into the woods with Emerald in tow.

 **GASP! PLOT TWIST! Jaune gets the business end of Tyrian's tale instead of Qrow. What does this mean for the blonde Knight? What is the fallout of this fight and reunion? Will RPNR convince Jaune to come back or will he even have a choice, what will sombra and Amelie think of his former team's intentions? Will I introduce Doomfist later in the fic now that he is confirmed? (By the way look up that overwatch announcement if you haven't seen his animated short.)** **All will (Probably) be answered in the next chapter. Alright fellas I hope you all liked this shorter but action packed chapter. Drop a review or comment saying what you thought or even PM me if you guys have ideas or questions. As always BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	29. Chapter 29

**ALRIGHTY! WE GOT ANOTHER CHAPTER! I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. They are owned by the late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard. ENJOY!**

Chapter 28

A much needed but unwanted talk.

'Well, awkward would be the understatement of the century.' Jaune thought to himself as he sat on a log with Amelie and Sombra to his left and right sides. The three were across from Qrow and Ruby. Jaune looked to his left to see Nora and Ren. What he noticed about his old friends was that there was a look of discomfort amongst all their faces. The fire in the center illuminated their faces so that the blonde could see that there was tension among everyone. Due to him being injured, his group thought the best decision was to comply with the huntsmen and travel with them for a bit. In the state Jaune was in, he was not fit to fight a huntsman along with his old team and friends. Which brought him to who was to his right.

He didn't need to look up to know that his old partner was staring right at him. Jaune's hood was lowered and his mask was removed from his person so the champion could see the look of deep thought he had written over his face. He knew that they would have to talk soon. He would have to talk to all of them. If he was being honest with himself, he would say that he was downright terrified of what was to come. Jaune wasn't even paying attention to Qrow as he was talking about the maidens. Jaune already knew about them and they weren't really a concern for him.

What was a concern however, was his aura. That bastard Tyrian sliced him a few hours ago. By now his aura should have patched up his wound. So why in Oum's name was it still hurting like hell? He looked down and saw the white bandage wrapping around his black Kevlar armor with a hint of red staining it. He sighed at this, knowing that things were about to get even more complicated.

"You listening to what I have to say kid?" Jaune was snapped out of his train of thought when he saw Qrow looking at him. All eyes were on him besides Sombra and Amelie, who simply remained quiet. Jaune glared back at the huntsman and leaned forward a bit, felling a bit of the heat from the fire whip at his face.

"We know about the maidens already." Jaune replied as he gestured to his two teammates. Surprise was written on all of his old friend's faces and Qrow's eyes narrowed on him. "Hacked into Beacon servers remember?" Jaune said. "We knew what you and Ozpin were planning to do underneath the school." Jaune wasn't fazed by the menacing aura surrounding Qrow. The blonde spent months training with Gabriel Reyes and the first thing he learned was to not let anyone intimidate him.

"Then why not warn us?" he looked to see Nora ask this question. Jaune replied by putting a hand against his forehead in frustration.

"It was the day before everything happened." Jaune then pointed to Qrow. "And even he can agree with me knowing that it would cause an unnecessary panic." Qrow reluctantly nodded at this and Jaune winced at the wound in his side. He looked up to see Amelie with concern as her main expression. "We'll worry about it in the morning." He told her. "Speaking of panic, I'm pretty sure you know who's been causing all of this." he was pointing at Qrow when he spoke. "The grim invasion, the dragon, and now crazed henchmen targeting me and my team." he internally winced when he saw the subtle looks of hurt on NPR's faces. "That asshole mentioned something about a Goddess. I know you know about it." as Jaune said this, Qrow took a swig from his flask.

"And pray tell." Qrow said while smirking at the blonde and ignoring the annoyed look he was getting from his niece. His reply was Sombra scoffing.

"Uh, you're in leagues with the silver haired asshole Ozpin himself." The hacker said as she finally stepped in. "His secrets have secrets." Before Qrow could nod at this a cheeky grin appeared on Sombra's face. "Not to mention we saw in the files that you, the dominatrix, and the general of Atlas were all aware of the Maidens. So, we know that you know who the threat is." the hackers smirk danced on her lips as she saw the agitated look emerge from the huntsman. After Qrow took another massive swig from his flask, he set it down and looked at the fire.

"Her name is Salem." Qrow muttered and Jaune noticed that Amelie tensed at this name. He kept her distraught in mind as he gestured for Qrow to go on. "Currently, little is known about her. All we know is that she is the mastermind behind everything leading up to now and that she has informants hidden everywhere." Jaune's eyes widened slightly at this along with the others. He then grew confused due to Ruby's uncle pointing a finger at him. "And has made you her priority number one. High jacking her plans for the breech and being a massive thorn in her side during the attack on Vale put you in her sights. Hence the crazed henchmen." Qrow chuckled at this, but noticed that Jaune had another question ready.

"Then why was he also targeting Ruby?" the blonde retorted, making the huntsmen irk. Despite them all being there, Qrow was still reluctant on the telling them about the silver eyes. He hated himself for promising Ruby not to tell anyone about it all those months ago and he looked at his niece who also had a worried expression.

"I don't have an answer for you there, kid." Qrow replied, making the hacker he met back in Vale to glare at him.

"Wait." Nora said, putting her hands out in front of her, trying to asses a question she had. She then looked to Qrow with confusion. "If you have been following us from the start, why not just come with us?" they all realized this and looked at the huntsman and Ruby added on.

"It could have made the trip faster as well." Qrow had a conflicted look on his face for a few moments before they all heard Jaune chuckle just a bit.

"He was using you all as bait." Jaune said as he looked at his old team. Ren's eyes narrowed while Nora's widened. He looked to see that Ruby had one of disbelief while Pyrrha's was still neutral and fixed on him. "Of course, he knew it would be tough to win the fight on his own. So why not let two psychopaths duke it out and deal with the one who ends up on top." Jaune noticed that Ruby stood up.

"He wouldn't do something like that Jaune." Ruby growled and Jaune leaned back a bit and gestured to his team.

"If he wouldn't, then he would have been the one to save you from the bell, got wounded due to said rescue attempt, and we wouldn't be here right now." as Jaune said this his glare fixed on Qrow while the huntsman scratched the back of his head. "He was waiting if a thorn in his side would either die in combat, or get wounded. Either way, your uncle ended up as the victor today. Bravo." Jaune slowly clapped at this before getting up from his seat.

"Where are you going?" Amelie asked and Jaune winced due to his wound acting up. He then turned back to Amelie and Sombra, ignoring the other's looks of curiosity.

"Going to get some damn first aid to make sure this wound stops hurting. After that going to try and get some sleep." Jaune said as he turned to his and his teams sleeping area which was a few meters away from the others. He looked back at Qrow and gritted his teeth a bit. "Besides, I've had enough of this little ray of sunshine you call a victory." He spat this and headed into the darkness. Leaving everyone either worried, or anxious due to his attitude.

Amelie and Sombra could practically feel the distraught come off him when he was sitting next to them. Mostly due to the situation that they were all in. Without Jaune, the team lost a third of their strength and escaping would be a no go. The fact that the next town wasn't for another days travel only cemented this fact and the two teammates decided staying with Jaune was the best decision for all of them. That however didn't make them feel any less awkward while Jaune was having his little dispute with the huntsman and now that he was gone to sleep, they were left with Jaune's past staring right at them.

"Before we go on, I have one question." Ren stepped in as he looked to Amelie and Sombra. Both of who tensed at the flat but calm tone of his voice. "Why were you with Jaune during the attack on Vale? What was your plan there?" Ren's eyes looked over to Jaune who was crouched by his sleeping bag, putting ointment on his wound. He then looked back to the two. "We know you three didn't plan the fall of Beacon. So, what was your plan?" Amelie looked back to Jaune who listened in on his former teammate's question. She saw her partner close his eyes and nod his head, giving her the go ahead to tell them the truth.

"On a professional level, it was to stop the attack in the first place." Sombra said, all eyes were on her now. "We were looking for Cinder and her lackees and we found one of them. The illusionist that made you kill Penny." despite the sense of dread that overcame them all when she said this, Jaune noticed Sombra's fist squeeze tight as she said that name. "We almost stopped it. Arana here shot her square in the shoulder moments after everything happened." Sombra jabbed a thumb to her teammate and Sombra looked back. "But you all know what happened." everyone looked down at this, remembering what happened.

"And on a personal level?" Qrow asked. The four huntsmen and huntresses in training were now looking at the three renegades and Sombra answered once more.

"Well, since we got nowhere to be," she then looked back to Jaune with a smirk. "You mind if we tell them Reaps? Or do you want to do it?" Jaune looked up blankly and gestured for her to go on. with a chuckle from the hacker, she turned back and looked at the others. "Well the three of us have different personal drives for trying to stop it. But you could say the common denominator was Cinder," she surprised everyone as she pointed to the champion. "And you Little Miss Perfect."

"To be fair it was only you and Jaune who's intentions rested with her. Mine was on Cinder." Qrow noticed the hate in Amelie's voice as she said Cinder's name. Sombra nodded at this.

"That's why you told Jaune to leave with me when we were on top of the tower." Pyrrha finally spoke up. Everyone grew surprised at this revelation besides Ruby. Not only was the rose on top of the tower as well that night, but also, she found out prior what Pyrrha and Jaune were up to.

"Jaune and I just wanted to stop the aura transfer from happening." She eyed Qrow who had a hint of anger radiating around him. Pyrrha grew confused at this and decided to speak up.

"Why?" the champion believed she knew Jaune's reason, but why was this woman who she had barely met was so concerned with her wellbeing.

"Oh, I don't really care about you." Sombra shrugged, she then eyed Qrow and her teeth gritted a bit against each other. "What I do care about is when people with power, think they can just fuck with people's aura." her neon aura implanted along her skin grew a bit brighter as she said this.

"Listen." Qrow spoke up. "We didn't really have a choice in the matter. Our backs were pressed against the wall and we had to improvise. It was the best plan we had at the time." Amelie's eyes narrowed at this along with Pyrrha's. "It was a risk but one that Ozpin was willing to take." Sombra was about to protest at this but they all heard footsteps quickly heading their way. They turned to see Jaune making his way back to the fire. Despite his injury, he phased through the fire and yanked Qrow forward by his shirt. Shock was apparent on all of the former students faces as they saw the unbridled fury on Jaune's face.

"Well Ozpin is a fucking dumbass if he thought that was his only option." Qrow remained calm at this and Jaune shoved him back onto his seat. "Not only could he have just kept the maiden there, actually had some balls and went after Cinder and in turn return the powers to the original Fall Maiden. But you had plenty of chances to defend yourselves!" Jaune was furious at this point. But Qrow took out his flask and opened the cap.

"Atlas would only cause more tension during the festival kid. You wouldn't understand the long term affect-" Qrow was cut off as the blonde snatched the man's flask and took a huge swig. He slammed the flask on the ground and glared at the huntsman who was now visibly angry.

"I'm not talking about Atlas." Jaune growled. "You had two of Remnant's strongest huntsmen and huntresses asking, begging to aid you." Qrow's eyes narrowed at this. "I saw the video footage that Sombra pulled from that night. My parents offered to help Vale to the best of their ability and what do you do?! You and your CUNT OF A BOSS BLEW THEM OFF!" Jaune had enough of the cryptic "you wouldn't understand" bullshit Qrow and Ozpin spat. He saw that the grizzled huntsman had a somber expression while Ruby was shocked beyond belief. "And to top it all off, the reason why I refused to let Pyrrha go through that aura transfer, is that your talking to three results of tampered aura." He gestured to his team while the others looked at them. "And I would rather be killed by WBY again than stand to the side and let JNPR fall apart again." with that, the blonde turned and started to walk off. Amelie grew concerned as he headed out passed his sleeping bag and further into the woods. Leaving the shell-shocked group of former students behind.

"Welp." Sombra said as she clapped her hands together, breaking everyone out of their trances. "It's getting late and I think we all need some rest." No one said anything as Amelie and Sombra headed to their sleeping bags and began to get ready for the rest of the night. Sombra however noticed that Amelie was eyeing the area that Jaune disappeared into and the hacker smirked a bit. Amelie was caught off guard when Sombra elbowed her and gave her a knowing look.

"I know your worried about him arana." Sombra said while nudging her head in Jaune's direction. "I'll man the fort here. Go find him so he doesn't get himself killed." Amelie smiled a bit at this and nodded. The sniper grabbed her rifle and began to head off into the woods, she stopped in her tracks as her eyes narrowed on the red and bronze themed girl that was heading in the same direction as Jaune.

"This should be interesting." Amelie spoke to herself as she trailed behind the former student, wondering how this would play out.

 **With Klein, Schnee Mansion:**

The butler flinched every time he heard Weiss's father raise his voice. Apparently at the gala right after the concert, had been the scene of an incident that Jacque became embarrassed of and his daughter was the cause of. Klein had no idea what to think on the matter since he wasn't there at the time. Instead he was making sure the estate was clean so his boss wouldn't go off on him as well.

At the moment however, the butler was once again listening in on Jacque's yelling and he mentally sighed at this. Ever since that Arc boy was killed all those months ago, Jacque had been drunk on power. Seizing and conquering any company he could get his hands on and after rummaging through some of Jacque's personal documents (like any loyal butler would,) he discovered that the president of the SDC was almost in control of the entire Atlas military if it wasn't for the Dust Embargo Act enforced by General Ironwood. Soldiers became heavily reliant on dust to control riots in the street and attempt to stop the covert operations of the Arcs. Emphasis on the word "attempt". Due to the drastic changes in the kingdom, the SDC became the sole supplier for the military. Klein hated the term he was thinking of, but Jacque having Atlas by the balls seemed fitting nowadays.

"Enough of this." Klein heard Jacque say through the door. His voice was low but vicious. "I have had it with you and your attitude for far too long." Klein slightly panicked a bit as he heard footsteps becoming louder. "Tomorrow you WILL meet me at my office so we can finally start putting plans in motion." The door slammed open and Klein stood up straight, but avoided eye contact with his boss. "Klein!" Jacque barked and the butler went to his side. "Take the night off. You'll need the rest for tomorrow." Without another word, Jacque stormed off to his office and Klein could hear the door slam shut from across the mansion.

Klein sighed at this and was about to head to his room until he heard a slight cry of pain coming from Weiss's room. Concern drew onto his face as he slightly opened the door. Just enough to peek in and see what was the cause of it. His eyes widened as he saw Weiss grasping her missing leg with her remaining arm and breathed heavily. Klein lowered his eyes and knew that her phantom pains were flaring once more. The butler knew that this was his cue to enter and comfort the heiress but he was stopped by his scroll vibrating. Confused due to the fact that his scroll was always turned off while he was working, he pulled it out and looked at the bright screen illuminating the dark hall. His eyebrows furrowed as he read the message in front of him.

 **"** **Come to these coordinates if you want to save Weiss."**

 **P**

Klein was confused beyond belief as he looked at the message in front of him. He wanted to believe that this was a trap of sorts. Possibly by Whitley. His attention was drawn back to the room as he heard the silent sobbing coming from Weiss. Ever since she was little, it pained the butler's heart to see her cry. Even if the consequences were entirely her fault, he was still her butler, and right now she needed his help.

The drive out to the outer regions of Atlas were a bit concerning for Klein. It was harrowing to see the slums of the city acting so hostile but thankfully Klein had an ace up his sleeve, or in this case his mind, that could take care of any trouble if it so happened to come his way. After an hour of driving, his GPS guided him to an abandoned lot in the outer regions of Mantle. The butler exited his car and walked to the middle of the lot, concerned, but ready with a pistol that he carried on his person.

After three minutes of waiting, Klein was about to go back to his car until his scroll buzzed again. He looked down and once more, a sense of confusion overwhelmed him as he read the message.

 **"** **Go to the end of the lot and press the SDC graffiti logo. The password is 1223097."**

Klein looked at the wall sprawled with graffiti and frowned a bit. He ignored the profane art and scanned the wall until he saw the logo he was looking for. It was at eye level and a little to his right. Klein pressed it and the small logo slide up into the wall to reveal a screen requesting for a password. Klein complied and entered the code. The words "Access Granted" appeared and a slab of the cement wall grinded to the side, revealing a passage that descended below the ground. Klein gulped as he entered. He descended the staircase which took him a few minutes and found a sealed door. Klein struggled a bit but he was able to break the rust off and opened it.

His eyes widened as he saw a massive underground facility that spanned for at least a mile. He looked from the upper catwalk to see immense weapons, vats of boiling dust, and rows of computer servers. He was about to marvel some more until he looked at his scroll, indicating that he had another message.

 **"** **Make your way to the far east side of the base. That's where R &D is. Don't worry about the drones guarding the place. They won't bother you." **

The butler was surprised to see the guards were nothing but drones that he saw were stationed in Vale. What confused him even more was how nice they were treating him. They were guiding him to his designated area and he swore they were supposed to have blue lights to ensure they were powered on, not green.

After a few minutes of walking, Klein made his way to the R&D area and saw that is was only a small office with scribbles of blueprints and hologram schematics scattered all around the room. He was about to look at his scroll, but saw that there was an orb in the center of the room, resting on a desk. What made it catch his attention was that it was glowing green. Klein was confused beyond belief and he went to touch the orb. But was stopped as his scroll vibrated.

 **"** **Place the orb on that control slot please."**

Klein gulped a bit as he lifted the small glowing orb and placed it in the slot right next to the computer interface. A few minutes passed as the lights began to flicker and the computer screen became plagued with static. Klein didn't know what to do and before he could do anything, a girl appeared on the screen. His eyes widened as he remembered her orange hair and turquoise eyes. Her design was a little more technological, but her attire was the same as the day she was killed in front of all those people.

"Greetings and Salutations." The girl said cheerfully as she had a wide grin on her face. "I'm thankful that you listened to me. I'm Penny." Klein was at a loss for words as he looked at the girl that was now becoming confused at his silence. "Is something wrong Mr. Klein?" Klein's eyes widened a bit as he stepped back.

"How?" he said. That's all he needed to say as Penny's eyes widened in realization and became slightly embarrassed.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry. I forgot that I.." she grew silent as she remembered what happened to her physical body that night. "My fail-safes retracted my aura into my core and my father retrieved it. You are in my father's lab at the moment." Klein looked around once more and then turned back to Penny.

"How do you know my name? Or that Weiss is in danger?" Penny giggled a bit at this and Klein grew a little irritated.

"My aura is able to hack into any device and access any contact of information. I simply hacked into the SDC mansions security and saw you were the most loyal to Weiss." Klein's eyes couldn't get any wider as he looked back at Penny.

"You hacked into the SDC?" he asked and Penny nodded with a gleeful smile on her face.

"Yep!" she cheered "And the Atlas Military." Klein couldn't believe this as he could only mutter one word.

"H-how?" he asked and saw that Penny's cheerfulness never faltered.

"A very old friend once told me Mr. Klein, anything can be hacked."

 **With Pyrrha:**

She didn't care.

She didn't care about Qrow's talk about the Fall Maiden or even the damn relics he went on about after Jaune and his team left to their sleeping area. She didn't even want to be in the area of that man. Huntsman or not, he could have helped them. Helped his own niece for Oum's sake. But no. Instead, a wanted terrorist and murderer who happened to be her ex-partner protected Ruby and in turn got wounded. She was about to scream at that man right before Jaune stepped in and screamed first. In that moment however, Pyrrha's heart jolted when Jaune said he was trying to protect her. It also made her realize how much Ozpin was using her for his own gain and it made her sick.

Her distain for anyone affiliated with Ozpin was cut short however as she saw her former partner head off into the woods. Worry overcame her as she waited for Qrow to stop talking. As soon as the huntsman left the campfire to his own sleeping bag, Pyrrha got up and headed towards Jaune's direction. She ignored her teams questioning remarks while grabbing Milo Mors. She was afraid, but her resolve remained strong as she headed into the forest.

The trek was surprisingly long for a person who was wounded but after about fifteen minutes of hiking, Pyrrha saw him. His cloak was discarded to the side, along with his armor and weapons. He was in black cargo pants and a white t-shirt as he sat on a nearby rock. The area the two were in was a small clearing that was shrouded by surrounding trees and the moon gleamed off the metal of his shotguns. Pyrrha noticed that he was sitting there, grasping his side and was what the champion could assume aura training.

"I know your there Pyrrha." Jaune called out which startled her just a bit. She emerged from the tree line with her hands behind her back. Jaune looked up to her and noticed her new weapon and smirked a bit. "I see Crocea Mors has been treating you well. Even some modifications I see." Pyrrha blinked at his observation and she soon nodded.

"It has Jaune." she said as she sat across from him. The two were silent for what seemed like forever. Jaune was focusing on his aura while Pyrrha was simply watching. She saw the smoke swirl around his arm for a few moments before dissipating.

"How does it feel?" she asked, making Jaune look up to her confused. "Being able to scatter into smoke and all." Jaune smirked at her attempt to start a conversation. He nodded and decided to go with it.

"Well it depends." he said, causing some confusion to dawn onto the champion. "Are we talking about before, or after our little fight on the roof." Pyrrha flinched a bit at this and Jaune looked away, mentally cursing at himself for bringing that night up.

"After." She replied and Jaune grinned genuinely.

"Well I don't phase through everything that comes in contact with me anymore. "I have to see it coming for me to phase through weapons. It's a little difficult to get a grasp on now. The best word I can use to describe it is "resistance." But it's not giving me too much trouble." He chuckled as he saw the red strands of smoke intertwine with his aura.

"And before that night?" she asked and Jaune's grin morphed into a frown. Pyrrha noticed this and inched a little closer to him.

"Now I know the word that describes that feeling. Hell." Jaune replied as his gaze hardened. Pyrrha shrank a bit at this and Jaune continued to look at his hand which was dissipating violently. "That was not a good time Pyrrha." she heard him sigh a bit at this.

"So, what's your plan when you get to Mistral?" she asked. Jaune looked at her and saw a gentle smile on his former partner's face. He sighed a bit before looking down at this wound.

"First of all, getting this fixed." Jaune gestured to his wound. "Then track down anyone who is or was affiliated with Cinder. Track them down…" he looked at Pyrrha who had worry in her eyes. "Deal with them, find Cinder, let Amelie take her out, and find that Salem person. All in the meantime dismantling her organization." Pyrrha looked concerned at this and decided to ask on.

"And what about the maidens or the relics?" she asked. Jaune quirked and eyebrow at the relic part due to not being there when Qrow explained to them what they were.

"Not my problem. I'll let the huntsmen deal with that." he shrugged and her eyes narrowed.

"And what are you going to do after Cinder?" Pyrrha's voice grew low but a bit harsher. Jaune noticed this and reciprocated her stare.

"WBY." that was all he said. Pyrrha could see the venom in his eyes as he said this. He didn't need to say anything else. Pyrrha knew what he meant in just that one word.

"And after that?" she asked. He looked at her and noticed the hope in her eyes. Another sigh escaped him as he shook his head.

"Pyrrha, what do you want me to say?" he said while his hands balled into fists. "That I'll go back home and live my life again? Settle down and get a job so I can one day have a family while I keep in contact with you, Nora, Ren, and Ruby?" he then stood up and grabbed his Kevlar chest plate. "That I will have a happy life and be the best father I could strive to be so my kids won't have to live in a world where they run the risk of their friends backstabbing them and kicking them into a pit that spawns grim?!" Jaune took his cloak and dawned it once more. his hood was down and his mask was in his hands.

Pyrrha wasn't able to say anything more as Jaune brushed passed her and headed back to the camp, he stopped however and stumbled a bit. Pyrrha's eyes widened and soon bolted to his side. She could hear his breathing become weak and they both looked down at his side to see a violet substance leaking through his wound.

"Well shit." Was all Jaune said.

 **EH? EH? Not too shabby am I right? What will happen to Jaune? Will Pyrrha be able to salvage what little of a relationship they have? (Poll is saying otherwise) Who is Penny's old friend? What does Penny want Klein to do? and most importantly…. WHERE IS DOOMFIST?! Most will be answered next chapter. In the meantime, why not check out the "Watching Reaping with Sorrow" by Hollow609? A reaction to this fic has always been on my mind and seeing it actually happen is really cool. Anyways another thing I want to discuss is that some people are still waiting on another chapter of Tears of the Mind. (Another Jaune crossover story if any of you haven't checked it out.) and I am working on the chapter, its just that Reaping with Sorrow takes top priority at the moment. Once I get through this harrowing arc I will focus more on that story. Last thing I want to say is shout out to SunwukongMogar for helping me with this story. Drop a comment or a review and as always beautiful people, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	30. Chapter 30

**ALRIGHTY! BACK IN THE SWING OF THINGS! I won't say anything until after the chapter so lemme say I do NOT own RWBY or Overwatch. They belong to the Late Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth and Blizzard. ENJOY!**

Chapter 29

A means to an end

"Well shit." Yang said as she and her mother entered their base camp. From what Yang had heard from her mom, the tribe that she is leader of is a nomadic tribe. They keep moving from place to place and take whatever they need to survive. Yang knew the last part was bullshit just from the look in her mother's eyes. Despite the blonde Brawler being hard headed when it came to fighting, she knew when someone else had hidden intentions or when someone was keeping something from her. She learned to keep secrets from her sister so she knew what to look for when reading a person's face, and her mother had a slight sinister grin as she said what Yang just heard. Despite this, Yang continued on. She honestly had nothing left back in Vale. No friends, no family, and no place to call home. So, it was less of wanting to go with Raven and more of needing to go in order to survive.

"We keep the fortress's mobility light but heavy on manpower so we can move quickly through the mountains." Raven commented as they passed by a few tribesmen that were constructing one of the look-out towers in the rear of the camp. Yang looked with slight wonder at the amount of firepower each person was carrying. Even though only some of them had aura, they were all holstering some sort rifle. Due to the logos of the SDC on each weapon, Yang assumed that they stole them.

"Okay," Yang started as she and Raven headed toward the center of the camp. "So, what now? I mean I know you didn't take me here just for a tour." Raven eyed her daughter for a few moments before looking forward.

"Before anything else can be done, you need to prove your worth something useful here." Raven said flatly as her sword clinked against her armor. Yang was still in her sweatpants and tank top as they reached the center tent. For a tent, it looked like if it was meant for higher ups on the battlefield. The red and black design's interlacing with one another showed the campsite that if anyone needed anything from a higher up, this was the place to go.

"Who's in there?" Yang questioned and Raven smirked.

"Just like Vale, there is a council here as well. The only difference is that we actually make progress in our efforts to survive." Raven replied which in turn made Yang cock and eyebrow while shifting her weight to her left side.,

"I thought you were the leader of all this." Yang gestured to everything and everyone around them that were stationed in the depths of the Anima forest. Raven's glare hardened on her daughter, but Yang didn't falter. There was only one person that now affected her and he was the one who took her arm. In Yang's eyes, her mother's attempt to intimidate dwarfed in comparison to what she has already seen.

"I am. I consult with the elders on big decisions. Despite my power and influence with the tribe, the elders have experience. Where to go during which season. What places are ripe for harvest and villages that are ripe for pillaging." Raven gestured for Yang to follow her into the tent. Yang followed and as she entered the tent, she was face to face with five other older looking people garbed in long robes. Their ages were apparent due to the plethora of wrinkles on each of their faces, despite their ages, they also showed signs of wisdom that she couldn't even fathom to believe. Yang looked to her mother and saw her bow slightly to each of them and they all retuned the gesture. There were three women and two men that occupied the seats of the elders and the woman on the far left was the one to speak up first.

"Have you brought another recruit?" The elder asked before eyeing Yang up and down. "Because I must say, you could have done better." This made Yang's semblance flare just a bit, but enough for the elders to notice.

"And a temper." The elder man on the far right commented with a little chuckle. Yang looked to the man and he gestured for the brawler to sit down in front of them. "Don't mind my sister. She is very critical of everyone." this caused the elder sister to glare at him and he chuckled a bit. Yang also smirked slightly and was surprised by this man's kindness.

"Nokam, Vakam, enough." Raven stated and both grew silent. Yang noticed how neither the elders nor her mother were in control of the room and instead of hearing a stern voice come from Raven, it was one of care. As if there was something important to discuss. "She is the one who will tell us more of the Reaper." All the elder's heads perked when they heard this. Raven mentally sighed with relief as they would finally be able to get some answers on the one that butchered nearly half of their fresh forces. "And she is my daughter." she added this at the end and the brother now known as Vakam raised his eyebrows.

"Oh? This is Yang?" he asked. "Well it is finally a pleasure to meet you." Vakam reached out his hand for her to shake. He then realized that he had offered his hand that would shake Yang's right hand. Realizing his mistake, he quickly retracted his hand and chuckled a bit. "Sorry. Forgot that you don't really have a-"

"It's alright." Yang said politely as she could. She then looked to Raven with an uncomfortable look. "Why are only two of them talking?" she whispered and Raven looked to the three that were in the central area of the tent. She smirked and looked at her daughter.

"This isn't the other's expertise. Nokam and Vakam are experts on intel and evaluations. Nokam is more critical while Vakam see's hidden potential, hence his optimism." Raven whispered back as Vakam calmed himself from his slight humiliation.

"Apologies for my brother." Nokam droned and her gaze hardened on Yang. "But please. Would you kindly tell us what you know about this abomination?" Yang was a little surprised by the sincerity in Nokam's voice but thought nothing really of it.

"Well for starters, his name is Jaune Arc." Yang started and the everyone including Yang's mother grew surprised at this. "Did I say something wrong?" she asked and Vakam spoke up.

"We won't blame you if you don't know, but was he by chance related to a Maria Arc?" the older man asked and Yang thought back for a moment. She tried to recall anything she could think of and she realized that his Jaune's mother was called Maria by Ozpin during the time that woman's aura flared and made Ozpin's office shake.

Yang snapped her fingers in realization. "Yeah. Maria is what Ozpin called his mom. She carried two daggers that formed into a shield. Brown hair, petite, really cared about Jaune." Yang rambled for a second as she somewhat shrank when the elders were all talking frantically amongst themselves. Yang looked to Raven so she could grasp a hold of the situation but noticed that her mother's face contorted into one that resembled anger. "Um, I know I'm a little green to all of this but could I get a little context to why everyone looks troubled?" Yang asked honestly and all eyes were on her. A sigh of frustration could be heard to her side and the brawler saw her mother shaking her head.

"Our tribe was usually led by two people." Nokam started as she looked at Yang. "Raven's brother was supposed to lead alongside her but after they graduated from Beacon, he went rouge and left us. We had to improvise last minute and we all came to the conclusion that our medic of the tribe would lead along side Raven. That medic was Maria Morrison. Or as you know now as Maria Arc." Yang's eyes widened a bit at this and she looked to Raven for answers. She simply nodded, confirming Nokam's comment as a fact.

"They lead together for a very long time." Vakam added on. "Over a decade I think? Bah, I'm going senile, anyway, it wasn't until that bastard of a huntsman ran into her while she was in Mistral getting some medical supplies. After a half of a year on the outskirts of Mistral, thinking that Maria was working on new remedies and medicine, she was actually using that time to get to know dear old Alexander Arc. She then deserted us a year later and took the name of Arc." Vakama furrowed his brow at this as Yang noticed the pain on all the elder's faces once Maria was brought up. "And are you sure this Reaper is her son?" that look of loss was replaced with a hint of fear as everyone looked to her. Yang shrank a bit more at this and let out a breath to give her a bit of courage.

"Yes. I am sure that he is Jaune Arc. Two others, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and I turned him into what he is now." All eyes widened when they heard this and Yang went on to tell them her story of how Jaune came to be as the Reaper. Yang desperately wanted to soften the story a bit but considering the environment she was in, she concluded that actually telling the truth would be the most beneficial. Once she finished what she had to say the room grew silent. Yang didn't know what to do in this moment so she just sat there hoping what they had to say wouldn't be something she had heard before.

"That certainly sheds a new light on a few things." Vakam said as he rubbed his chin in deep thought. "At least he isn't in league with his family, making him an easier target." Raven growled a bit at this.

"Have you forgotten that we lost so much because of him?" she said and Vakam nodded.

"And that is why I am trying to focus on the positives of this new information little one." Vakam replied. "We know he has at least two others with him, so he can travel fast but we could be able to outnumber him." Raven nodded a bit at this. "And now we know who to look out for. I would recommend to have some scouts head out to Mistral and see if we can find anyone who was affiliated with him." the others grew confused at Vakam's suggestion and he sighed. "Word spread that most of the Beacon students were transferred to Haven to complete their training. There has to be something we can use for that." Raven folded her arms and nodded after a few moments of being deep in thought.

"I'll send them off as soon as I can." Raven stated and the Elders nodded. Raven then stood up and turned to her daughter. "Let's go." Yang sighed slightly and was about to get up until Nokam stopped them.

"Just a moment." Nokam said as she put her hand up. "What will you do with your daughter now?" Raven looked to Yang for a few moments before hardening her glare.

"Before you say anything more, we may have a suggestion." Vakam continued and he received a look of agreement from his sister. "She can train here." Raven was about to protest to this but Vakam sent her a harsh glare, silencing her. "She has given us information that is now crucial to our plans. So, it is only fair to give her compensation." Vakam gave Yang a genuine smile which made her scratch the back of her head.

"You honestly think I have the time or patience to teach someone who is minus an arm?" Yang growled a bit at her mother's remark, realizing that Raven was only using her as a tool for information.

"We never said you would train her." Vakam replied and before Raven could ask them to elaborate, all the elders gave her a knowing look and Vakam smiled a bit. Raven's eyes widened a bit and she looked to Yang who was more confused than ever.

"Very well." Raven said flatly and turned to the exit. "Let's go meet him." Yang got up, still confused and bid the elder's farewell.

"Him?" Yang asked as the two headed to the north-eastern side of the camp. Raven remained stoic and said nothing as she kept heading in a specific direction. Yang was growing more confused and frustrated by the second and before she could say anything more, Raven stopped. Yang looked in front of them and saw that it was another tent. It was a little smaller than the one they were just at but the brawler noticed the exotic fur and pelts of various animals sewn together all around the tent. Yang noticed Raven had an annoyed look on her face.

"Your trainer." Raven muttered as she headed into the tent. Yang was nervous to say the least, but followed suit nonetheless. As she entered, more fur and pelts decorated the interior, but she noticed that the only thing occupying the area was a cot and a workbench of sorts. Yang's eyes slightly widened as she saw the hulking behemoth at the far end of the tent. He was occupied at the workbench and seemed to be using a portable dust fueled plasma cutter. The man wore no shirt as he the sparks continued to fly and Yang noticed her mother sighing in frustration.

"I'm assuming you already know what the elders want from you?" Raven spoke up and the man stopped his work. Sweat trickled down his dark skin as he slightly turned his head towards his two new visitors.

"Vigilance of what occurs in the camp is crucial to survival. Without communication, we would be nothing." His deep voice somehow echoed a bit and caught Yang off guard. "I have all of the Elder's furniture bugged for every time you and them have your little get-togethers." Raven gritted her teeth a bit. "So, it is your daughter that I am assigned to teach." the man stated aloud. Raven nodded at this and the man stayed silent for a few moments. "Perhaps she will be of use. She can tell me more of this thorn in your side." Raven's grasped her hand around her sword and the man let out a deep chuckle. "Remember what happened last time you tried that?" Yang was shocked to see Raven stay there for a minute before releasing her grip from her sword. "Leave us Raven." Raven looked to her daughter for a moment before her gaze hardened at the man a bit. Once she left the man got up from his bench and turned toward Yang. Yang nearly gasped as she was now face to face with a massive golden gauntlet that the man was wielding. Smoke was simmering off it due to the work he had just done on it and he chuckled a bit at her expression. "You may call me Akande."

 **With Klein**

The butler worked furiously as he carefully matriculated with the microchip in front of him. sweat trickled off his brow as his eyes squinted through the magnified scope so he could alter a few things.

"Now Mr. Klein, strip that strand of data off the chip." the butler heard Penny say and he complied. They had been working for about a half hour as Penny guided him through the steps of disabling the inhibitor chips on Weiss's prosthetics. Apparently from Penny had told him, she had discovered that Jacque Schee had strong armed her father, Geppetto Polendina into making neural state-of-the-art prosthetics for the heiress. Usually this wouldn't be concerning. That is until Penny discovered that Jacque planned to brainwash his own daughter into a mindless drone. Due to the discovery of Weiss's semblance evolving, it seemed that the leader of the SDC was ceasing another opportunity. Penny explained that she would basically become Jacque's personal hitman to eliminate any other competitors or enemies. Klein realized what Penny meant by saving her now and all he felt at that moment was anger. How could someone do that to their own daughter? Wipe their memory and control them like a puppet. The thought made all of Klein's personas want to vomit at this.

Fortunately, Penny had a solution to this problem. She had hacked into her own father's schematics and discovered that there were four microchips that inhibited her own neural link to her aura, which in turn, would make Weiss a puppet. Klein had just removed the final inhibitor and let out another sigh.

"Alright. That is the last of them." Klein said as he got up from the work bench and stretched his legs. He wiped the sweat off his brow and looked to Penny on the screen who smiled at him.

"Alrighty, now I have to replace the inhibitors with my aura." Penny replied and before Klein could ask, she continued on. "I have the ability to hack into the prosthetics and override all codes that Jacque Schnee has implanted in the arm and leg. It shouldn't take too long. Come back tomorrow night and everything will be set." Klein didn't say anything. He simply nodded and headed for the exit. "Oh and Mr. Klein?" the butler looked back to see the girl on the screen with a genuine smile. "Thank you for listening to me." this in turn made Klein smile back.

"I should be thanking you for helping Ms. Schnee." He replied before dawning his coat and exited the lab. He smiled to himself the whole way as he drove back to the Schnee estate. Knowing that he was actually doing the right thing for once. Even if it was against his masters wishes. As his car glided to a halt in the garage, the butler exited the car and entered back into the cold estate. Once more, braving what was to come.

As Klein headed to his room on the far side of the mansion, he couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched. He wasn't talking about the cameras installed all over the halls, no it was as if someone was following him. Once he made it to his door. He let out a sigh of frustration as he turned and faced the dark hallway.

"You can come out now Whitley." Klein said flatly. As luck would have it, the frail frame of Whitley Schnee came into view and Klein mentally groaned. He honestly did not want to deal with anything involving the young man in front of him.

"I forget that you know when I follow you." Whitley said as he slinked closer to Klein. The butler was not amused by this and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Sir, can this wait? It has been a long day for us all. I think rest would do us all good." Klein pleaded. Whitley tsked a bit and took a step closer.

"Well it depends if you tell me where you were?" Whitley asked with a sneer. Klein was at his limit and his irises in his eyes turned red.

"So, you can rat to your bastard of a father?" Klein retorted and Whitley's eyes slightly widened before smirking. The boy noticed that Klein's eyes reverted back to normal and regret was slowly seeping through his face.

"You think you know me so well don't you Klein?" Whitley said as he was inches away from the butler. Klein's gaze hardened on the boy who had a sinister persona dancing in his eyes.

"I wiped your ass when you were a baby. I bloody well ought to. Sir!" Klein mocked before opening the door to his room and slamming the door on Whitley's face. Whitley stared at the door for a few moments before heading back to his own room, he smirked as he pulled out from his pocket, the memory chip for Klein's scroll. A twisted grin grew on Whitley's face.

"Well you don't."

 **THE PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED! (or comments I'm just exaggerating) DOOMFIST IS HERE! WILL HE PLAY A SIMPLE ROLE AS JUST YANG'S TRAINER?! (I think we all know the answer to that idiotic question) so yeah. New chapter out and adding some more meat to the story. Hope you all enjoyed. Oh and before I forget I want to thank SunwukongMogar for helping me out as always and as a little treat, I also want to say that I started my own RWBY reacts to… story. It's my first swing at the reaction genre and I hope it's a good start. Hope you all check it out on my profile page. Anyways hope you all enjoyed this latest installment. Drop a review or comment or PM and as always, BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	31. Chapter 31

**More than three months… yeah things have been chaotic to say the least. New ideas for stories, the fact that I'm being bombarded in school, and the overall inevitable abyss that everyone faces, Writers block. Not only that but there are now continuity errors in my story. Apparently, Sienna is a woman… not against it, I just feel stupid for not realizing it sooner. I honestly thought Rooster Teeth was going for a Mufasa/Scar relationship with the characters and my mind immediately jumped to Sienna and Ghira being brothers. Nevertheless, Sienna is a dude in my story now… okay enough with my bitching. Here we go again everyone, I don't own RWBY or OVERWATCH. They belong to their respective owners. Also, please read the author's note at the end, it contains my plans for this story and a surprise. ENJOY!**

Chapter 30

Resolve in the Face of Fear

Coughs and strangled cries echoed through the Anima forest as two figures limped back towards their camp. One was desperately trying to keep her friend conscious by assuring him that things will be alright, while the other was barely conscious and trying to keep his balance. The wounded reaper looked up to Pyrrha who was focusing on the path in front of her and he couldn't help but wonder if she always was capable of this frantic nature that was apparent on her face.

"We're almost there Jaune." Pyrrha said as she looked to her former partner. Jaune's arms were limp while his head hung low. Whatever was in that maniac's tail that sliced Jaune's abdomen was clearly doing some damage and if they didn't get help soon, Pyrrha didn't need to think hard to know what she would be going through a second time.

"Mrrrgh." Jaune mumbled as he was in his battle gear sans his mask which dissolved into smoke once he faltered a few minutes ago; His weapons were also non-existent at the time and Pyrrha assumed that it was his aura not taking full affect of his being due to the poison in his system. Overall, their situation was not going for the better.

"I take it things aren't well." Pyrrha's head darted to the left as she saw one of Jaune's new teammates leaning against a nearby tree. Widowmaker if she recalled. The champion could tell that she wasn't interested in her in the slightest, although concern was apparent as her gaze turned to Jaune. Without notice, the sniper took Jaune's other arm and put it over her shoulder. Grunting was Jaunes response and Widow noticed how bad the poison was affecting him. "We need to get him back to camp, fast." Pyrrha didn't have time to argue or question as she felt the side of Jaune that Widowmaker was carrying be pulled forward towards their camp. Putting aside all the questions that she had at the moment, Pyrrha decided that Jaune would come first.

The walk back was silent to say the least, and no less awkward. Every few minutes Pyrrha would look to the blue skinned woman, wondering so many things about her involvement with Jaune. What did their other teammate mean when they said they were all products of tampered aura? What did that make them?

"Your subtlety is lacking if you plan to keep on looking at me." Widowmaker stated as they continued to walk back to their camp. Pyrrha was startled to say the least and the sniper simply glanced at her. "If you have something to say then spit it out." Her stern tone was a little off putting but Pyrrha looked forward with a hint of confusion on her face.

"How did you two even meet?" Pyrrha asked and Widowmaker looked at the champion with a raised eyebrow and a flat look. After letting out a slight sigh, the sniper somewhat smirked when she looked to Jaune's almost unconscious form.

"I shot him in the head." Widowmaker replied, which made Pyrrha almost trip. Satisfaction was apparent in the sniper's eyes and Pyrrha couldn't help but glare at her. "He and I have a mutual enemy and he is helping me see it through if that is what your wondering." Pyrrha looked down and she tried her best to not let the memories of that night at Beacon flood her mind.

"You mean Cinder?" Pyrrha asked somewhat softly and Widowmaker's expression hardened at that name. Pyrrha kept her vision fixed on what was in front of her and remembered that fight she had with the fall maiden, before Jaune appeared. Despite believing she had an edge at the time, Pyrrha knew it was a losing battle, yet not only did she fight on, but Jaune and the woman next to her took Cinder on as well.

"Yes. As well as that psychopath that did this to Jaune." Widowmaker replied and Pyrrha winced at the purple ooze that was leaking through Jaune's bandage. "His poison is volatile to say the least, but we have time to get some medical attention. It's still in its early stages." Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at this and looked at Widowmaker.

"You act like you kno-!" Pyrrha was cut off as she received a harsh glare from the blue skinned sniper, indicating that she should stop while she had the chance. Pyrrha looked forward and realized how much time had passed due to the campsite being no less than a few yards away. A slight breath of relief escaped her lips and Widowmaker looked to see Sombra going over a few files by herself while the others were talking amongst themselves.

"Sombra." Widowmaker called out with a calm yet urgent tone in her voice and the hacker looked up from the file she was going over, only to have her eyes widen at the sight of the three of them. Sombra rushed over to their side and took Pyrrha's position to the champion's dismay and the two teammates carried him off to his sleeping bag.

"What the hell happened?" Sombra asked as she noticed the rest of Jaune's former team noticed the state he was in and were coming their way. Once they set the unconscious reaper down and made sure to cover him up, Widow looked to her teammate with a hint of concern.

"Tyrian poisoned him." she said somewhat flatly. Sombra was surprised to say the least and Widowmaker slightly nodded her head to confirm what she had just said to the others. Fear and dread were apparent as the sniper looked to the huntsmen and huntresses, though she noticed that the older one that was a member of Ozpin's inner circle didn't seem to care in the slightest. Widowmaker paid no more attention to him and looked back to her teammate. "If we have any medical supplies that help infections, then make sure he gets them. In the meantime, we need to make a stretcher for him. He is in no shape to walk." Before she and Sombra could do anything, they noticed that the others were already focused on completing their tasks. Confusion was apparent between the sniper and the hacker but nevertheless, the two set out to do whatever they could for their friend.

Dawn was upon them in hours and in that time, they had make a stretcher out of Jaune's sleeping bag and two poles that Ren had carved with his Stormflower. Widowmaker was relieved to see that the poison wasn't spreading and overall Jaune was stable. The sniper looked over to see that the rest of them were sleeping as well, gaining whatever energy they could before they set off. Widowmaker knew though that they had to move fast if they wanted Jaune to survive. Even with what they could do, without proper treatment and medicine, Jaune would die.

Amelie sat down next to Jaune's sleeping form and set her rifle to the side. She surmised that the best plan of action was to head to Mistral as fast at they possibly could. Though the fastest way was through the mountains. It was dangerous to say the least, she remembered hiking through them with her father during her childhood. Though it was hazardous to say the least, it was only a day more till they reached Mistral. Once they got there, she would leave Sombra with him in the lower levels while she got the medicine she needed among the upper levels of the kingdom. The only problem she had at the moment were his former friends. She looked up to see them all sleeping on the adjacent end of the campsite and couldn't help but rub her temple, wondering how she was going to lose track of them.

A slight grunt escaped Jaune's lips and Amelie focused her attention on her partner. He remained still and collected to say the least. She noticed the sweat building up on his forehead and her response to this was grabbing one of the few washcloths they had and proceeded to wipe the sweat away. As she was doing this, she thought back to the fight with Tyrian. That freak of nature had an edge throughout the whole fight, all because she was too terrified of what he was and what he did to her. She shuddered a bit at the thought. She also heard after the fight that Jaune was the one to save that silver eyed girl right before the church bell crushed her, which gave Tyrian the chance to injure him.

"You never cease to put yourself in danger." Amelie said with a soft smile on her lips. Jaune shuffled slightly as the cool rag whipped away the sweat and she couldn't help but let out a short laugh. "What I find funny is that despite killing people you deem not fit to live, every time you've risked yourself, it was for someone else or someone else's doing. Never hesitating, never comprimi-!" in that moment, it felt as if Amelie's synapses were spitting in half and mentally letting out an unadulterated scream. Those words that she was about to tell him, all of those characteristics that she saw in her partner, even the overall presence of Jaune brought back the tormenting memories of Gerald and the regrets that came with those memories.

Amelie stood up, her breathing was somewhat rapid and she couldn't stop the aching that was transpiring throughout her skull. No matter how hard she tried to suppress Gerald, it felt as if he came back ten-fold in her memories. What really caught her off guard was the sleeping form of Jaune and how it resembled her deceased husband, he looked exactly like Gerald the night she ended his life; sleeping, but with a sense of unease.

"You didn't get any sleep, didn't you?" a gruff and unsatisfied voice snapped her out of her mental torment and the sniper turned to see the silver eyed girl's uncle leaning against a tree a few feet away from her. He was taking a swig from his flask and Amelie's eyes narrowed at him.

"You don't seem to be worried in the slightest." was her response and Qrow capped his flask.

"I'm not." he replied. "It just makes my job easier." Amelie knew where this was going and she stood in front of Jaune's laying form, blocking any path for the huntsmen. "You honestly think I'm going to let you three go after everything that has happened?" Qrow asked and pointed a finger at her while leaning forward a bit. "Hate to break the news to you, but once we make it to Mistral, the council is going to send everything it has at you three." he then looked to Jaune and the huntsman's eyes narrowed in at him. "It would be easier to just comply with th-" Qrow was interrupted when Amelie took a step toward him.

"You honestly think we wouldn't have a contingency plan?" Widow asked and put one of her hands on her hip and gave the confused huntsman and pitiful smile. "Anima has basically been policed by Mistral for decades, perhaps a century. If the Grimm or bandits hadn't attacked the village, then they were occupied by the Mistral military." Amelie took another step towards the huntsman, her sarcastic grin never faltering while Qrow knew where she was going with this. "And we both know Mistral isn't the pure kingdom that it wishes it was. What do you think we were doing at those settlements and villages? Every scrap of evidence, every detail we could obtain in Anima and from their archives, has been focused on the corruption of Mistral. What do you think would happen if word got out about their council?" Qrow's face contorted into anger and he took a step forward. The two of them were staring each other down at this point. And Amelie could see that his hands were balled up into fists.

"You honestly think the people would believe you thre-"

"They would believe the Arcs." Amelie interrupted once more and this left the huntsman silent. The only sound that resided around them were the chirping of insects and birds as the early morning dew glistened in the sunlight. "And you know I'm right." she then looked to the other huntresses and huntsman that were just waking up and Amelie gave Qrow one last smirk. "And do you honestly think that they would let their friend go again?" Qrow didn't dignify a response and instead, turned back to the others who were starting to get ready. Amelie didn't spare a second and turned back to Jaune and Sombra who was resting against a tree a few feet away from him. With a soft smile, she picked up her rifle and decided to prepare for what was to come.

 **Mistral, underground White Fang facility**

 **With Blake:**

Blake's expression remained impassive as she and her uncle made their way through the underground headquarters of the White Fang. Sienne Khan walked in front of her with his hands folded behind his back and the black tail ends of his robe drifted across the red carpet. Silence was apparent between the two as Blake hadn't said anything since they arrived at the facility. Once they made their way to the throne that Sienna resided in, the leader of the white fang ordered his troops to leave their presence. Once they complied, a sly smile appeared on the leader's face.

"So how did you like the tour my dear?" Blake's ears flattened as he asked this and she folded her arms, the ruffling of her white coat was the only response that was given. "I still wonder why you have a cold presence towards me, we are family after all." Blake glared at him and unfolded her arms.

"What kind of brother usurps the position of leader of the White Fang and basically destroys everything his predecessor stood for?" Blake asked and Sienna sighed a bit with dissatisfaction while rubbing his temple.

"The kind that knows how the world works and knew that Ghira's way of doing things wasn't helping, it was doing the exact opposite." Sienna responded and stood up from his throne. He then walked towards Blake and was five feet away from her. "Not to mention going against what the White Fang truly stands for, independence for the faunus." Sienna shook his head and sadly smiled. "And he goes and recruits a human to be his ambassador." Blake raised an eyebrow at this and put a hand on her hip.

"You mean Alexander Arc?" Blake asked and Sienna looked at her with a hint of confusion. "Dad told me about him." Sienna's eyebrows rose in realization and nodded at this.

"That man's presence was a tarnish on us all. He may have been just an ambassador but he was everything the White Fang stood against, reliance on the humans." Sienna scratched his chin and lowered his gaze. "I even had his family targeted for a while back when we were starting out," Blake's eyes slightly widened and Sienna let out a frustrated sigh. "I realized that was a mistake a little bit too late. The faction that I commanded were massacred in his retaliation. That was the true reason Alexander left. Did your father tell you that?" Blake stood there for a few moments, processing what had just been said. "He showed what brutality against the faunus truly was and the morale amongst the main faction deteriorated exponentially. Alexander actually made a wise decision for once and left the organization, though still carries on his foolish crusade for equality." Sienna chuckled a bit and turned back to Blake. "I hear that you have your own Arc that you have had trouble with in the past?" Blake visibly flinched as she thought back to that monster she once called a fellow student and her ears completely flattened against her head.

"Yes." was all that Blake said in response and Sienna nodded. he then pulled out his scroll and flipped through a couple files.

"Jaune Arc." Sienna said as he looked to his niece and she nodded. "I was surprised to say the least when he first showed up, massacring all those faunus at the dock." Blake looked down and Sienna noticed this. "You were among them, weren't you?" his voice was soft and safe in a way and all Blake could do in response was nod. A sigh of frustration escaped the leader and he folded his hands behind his back. "Then came his appropriation of our troops at Mountain Glenn…" there was a pause and the two knew who was about to be brought up. "Then the death of Adam, that was the tipping point Blake." Blake huffed in response and looked away.

"I believe your speaking for the both of us at this point." She said and Sienna nodded in response.

"Seeing that boy be crucified as some sick message was unfortunately the push we needed to take the initiative to Vale and more importantly, the Reaper. However, that wasn't the case. And I believe that things haven't gotten better for you ever since?" Blake became a little defensive at this and took a step back.

"What are you getting at Sienna?" Blake asked with a skeptical look and the leader smiled just a bit.

"Perceptive as always." Sienna replied and he took a step towards her. "Ever since the invasion of Beacon, morale has been at an all time low. And my employers are becoming a little… let's say impatient with the lack of progress we have made." Sienna looked away and voiced his distain as he mentioned that he was working for someone else. "What we need is a boost in power, someone who isn't afraid to go out into the field in any way possible." He then turned back to Blake and gave her a soft smile. "It didn't take long for my scouts to find you in that building Blake, and now I'm asking for your help." He then offered her one of his hands to shake and he looked at his niece. "We could use another commander for one of our branches." Blake stood there somewhat dumbfounded at the offer she was just given.

"I don't know." was her almost instinctive response and without a second to lose, she turned and went to exit the main hall. She could hear her uncle sigh at this and turn back to his throne. Once the doors closed behind her, she could hear her uncle mutter something. She didn't bother with what it was and she decided to leave the facility. With what had just happened, she needed to get out. She needed air.

It didn't take her long to exit from the underground hatch and could see the kingdom of Mistral out in the distance. She sighed and stretched while feeling much more relieved. That sense of relief however morphed into immediate danger as her survival instincts basically screamed at her to move. Her instincts were correct as she suddenly rolled to the right and saw an electric coil strike the area she was previously standing in. Blake unsheathed Gambol Shroud and morphed it into it's pistol form. She darted to the direction that she was attacked from and noticed that a White Fang member was standing a few Yards away from her.

"Perceptive, yet indecisive as always Blake." the faunus said. Her figure was slim as she wore a grey one-piece combat outfit and bared a weapon resembling a whip or a sword. She took a few steps forward and removed her mask. Blake's eyes narrowed in on her assailant and her grip on her weapon tightened.

"Ilia." was all Blake could say as she was attacked once more. Ilia swung an overhead strike at Blake and in response, Blake changed Gambol Shroud back into a sword which helped her block the oncoming attack. That was what she thought however as Blake's eyes widened as Ilia's whip wrapped around her sword and was ripped out of Blake's hands. Before she could retaliate, Blake felt the impact of Ilia closing in and kneeing her in the stomach.

"After everything that has happened." Ilia didn't take any time to waste as she grabbed Blake by the hair and landed two straights to her nose. Blake could still feel the impact of each hit despite her aura and let out a strangled cry. "After what you've been through." Blake could hear the anger in her voice and soon felt Ilia shove her to the ground. Blake was about to get up, but Ilia slammed her knee into Blake's stomach, knocking the wind out of her. The former White Fang member was hoisted by her chest and proceeded to look into Ilia's angry eyes. "After what we lost, what was ripped away from us, you are given a chance to fight and you RUN AWAY?!" Ilia's shriek echoed throughout the forrest all around them, causing some birds to fly away in fear.

"Sienna put you up to this?" Blake asked as she spit a wad of bloody spit to the side. Her response was another punch to the face. A few more of those, and her aura would shatter.

"He told me he's given you a chance to fight back, against that bastard that killed Adam!" Ilia responded and let go of Blake. "And of course, you're as indecisive as ever." Ilia then turned back to the direction where the facility was and looked back to her former friend. "Always claiming that she is fighting for what she thinks is right but in the end, runs away the moment she feels threatened." as fast as she came, Ilia left and headed back to the facility, most likely giving her report to Sienna. Blake wanted to get up, she wanted to prove that bitch wrong. She felt that anger rising in her, that same anger that resided in her when she was facing that monster back at Beacon. But all she could do was lay there, the pain had subsided but the truth still resonated, because deep down, everything that Ilia said, everything that Jaune told her during their encounters, was absolutely right.

 **With Jaune:**

There was nothing where Jaune was. It was once again that empty void that Jaune had frequently visited and at this point, the blonde knight was getting angry with whatever was happening. Night after night he would visit this place and be tormented by a new sick monster every time this happened. This time however, was different. By now, Jaune would be tied up by those familiar red strands and subjected to a night of torture. Instead, Jaune was just suspended there. He didn't show it at the time, but anger was brewing within him.

"Let's just get it over with alright?" Jaune growled as he folded his arms, awaiting whatever hell awaited him.

"I think it's actually time to talk." Jaune's eyes widened as he heard that voice. A gruff voice that was laced with hatred and Jaune turned around in the void, only to see a face he hadn't seen in months.

"Reyes." Jaune growled as his hands balled up into fists. The man who looked exactly the same as the last time Jaune saw him, clad in his combat garbs and signature beanie.

"You've come a long way kid." Reyes sneered as he circled the blonde knight. "Honestly, thought you would turn tail after the first night of killing but you never ceased to surprise me." Jaune raised an eyebrow at this and Reyes chuckled at his confusion. "How the hell did you think I knew so much about your situation when I was training you?" Reyes held his arm out and Jaune's eyes widened as he saw the red smoke intertwine with his former mentor's fingers. "Solidifying myself however was difficult, lying dormant in another person's soul can be a bitch at times. Your champion friend however made things oh so much easier." Jaune began to piece it together and remembered the night Pyrrha flooded him with his aura, the same night he lost all feeling of that pain. Despite knowing the cause of all of this, he still had no idea what "this" was in the first place. "I have to say though, this is going to be fun." Reyes gave him that sadistic look he would always give him during their training and Jaune felt a chill go through his soul. Despite that, Jaune still stood tall and faced his tormentor.

"I'm not afraid of you Reyes." Jaune growled and Reyes moved forward, his grin never subsiding.

"I don't need to make you afraid Jaune." Reyes said as his eyes turned red and the two of them began to dissolve. "I have you for that for me." Before Jaune could retort, the two deconstructed into particles and the last thing Jaune heard was the cackling of Gabriel Reyes.

 **The plot thickens once more… It's good to be back everyone. It really is. Though this chapter felt off a little bit due to me not really liking Blake as much as the other characters. I don't know specifically why but she doesn't feel interesting to write about. Nevertheless, I plan to develop her more in the future.**

 **Alright, down to brass tax… the future of this story. Yes, I have an ending in mind and I will make this absolute promise, this story is ending in Arc Four. Does that mean it's going to be a short arc? HELL NO! I plan on making that twenty chapters long! MWAHAHAHA! I got big plans for this story and I hope you all enjoy it.**

 **Finally, the surprise. See I'm doing this for three reasons. Reason number one: It's been a long ass time since I updated and thought you all deserve a little more for your patience. Reason number two: Thirtieth chapter and I thought it would be cool to show you all this. And reason number three. (Inhales) 1000+ FOLLOWERS! HOLY SHIT I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD GET THIS MUCH ATTENTION! I know it may not be that big compared to other writers but this is a huge step for me. So, for those who have just followed or for the people that have been here since the beginning, I hope you all enjoy this. This was the prototype Overwatch/RWBY crossover that I had in mind before Reaping with Sorrow and instead of being a Jaune/Reaper story, it was supposed to be a Jaune/76 story. Enjoy.**

 **RWBY/Overwatch Prototype Story (No official title)**

So, let's recap, shall we?

I fought off the Ursa that was going to lop Cardin's head off, surprisingly killed it on my own, and rendezvoused with my team. There was a debrief of the whole situation and I even patched things up with Cardin. The S.O.B even asked me to witness him apologize to Velvet as well. Of course, she accepted his apology. It wasn't surprising though when she kneed him in the dick prior to accepting said apology. Still didn't stop me from wincing in pain while crossing my legs though.

After that, I tried patching things up with Pyrrha. Emphasis on the word "tried". She was still hurt after what I told her and the secrets that I shared. Didn't blame her then and I sure as hell don't blame her now. But what did hurt was when I tried to convince her that I needed help. I used the Ursa as an example to show that even though I was getting better, I still needed help and hopefully my partner could lend me a few pointers. Yeah, big mistake.

She told me that she used her semblance to lift my shield during the last attack. I honestly didn't know if I should have felt angry or grateful. The Ursa would have killed me and not the other way around if it wasn't for her. That didn't stop her from going on and telling me that the rest of my team knew about my methods of coming here. Along with team RWBY as well. My partner, I mean ex-partner then decided to leave without giving me another word to say in return. So, what did I do? My team and our sister team now knew I was a fraud and what did I do? I ran.

Now I didn't run away from Beacon permanently. I decided to scale down the side of the building that I was standing on and headed for the docks which held the Bullheads that were going to Vale. There was no way that I could face any of them, at least for a while. I needed time to think of what I was going to say. Not to mention I was still a little pissed off at Pyrrha. Thinking back on it, that was idiotic of me to feel that way.

After getting into Vale I decided that I would stop by Juniors. After everything that happened, I believed a drink was needed to drown out the deafening sorrows. Junior of course was surprised to see such a lightweight downing glass after glass, but there's only so much shit a guy can take in one day. Things were getting interesting too. Met twins that actually weren't disgusted with my existence and I was actually hitting up a decent conversation. That is until Torchwick entered the scene.

Apparently, his plans were being botched left and right. So, he needed some more thugs to help him out. Considering Junior has them in bulk, he decided why not stop by the same night a disgrace of a huntsmen in training was trying to get shitfaced. While Junior was filing the paperwork of handing some men over to Roman, the criminal decided to aim his sights on me. We talked, we yelled, I threw up on his clothes. That was when he took me to the back alley so I could receive the beating of a lifetime.

And a beating it was. For a classy criminal, he had no standards in beating the ever-living shit out of me. That cane of his was by far the worst part. Even with my aura and drunken stature I felt my ribs break and one of my lungs collapsing. I honestly thought I would die in that alley. Beaten, bloody, and drunk off my ass. Roman was about to bash my head in until he was stopped by the queen bitch herself. I learned very soon that she was called Cinder and man, it was humiliating when she looked me up and down with a hint of disgust in her eyes.

Despite the disgust, she saw my weapon and grinned. Who'd knew a damn hand-me-down would be the deciding factor in my life. In my drunken haze, I saw that she was looking me up in the Beacon database. I could see a frown on her face, probably realizing that I was the worst student in the whole school. What worried me was when her frown morphed into a smirk and from what I could see, she gestured for a few of Roman's men to pick me up. I guess she wanted to play it safe and gave me a sedative as well. Little while after, I was knocked out.

I woke up to the sound of a loud banging noise and saw a hulking faunus in front of me. I didn't really see his animal appendages but I saw his white fang uniform and put two and two together. It took me a bit to realize that I was bound to a chair, shirtless and with the remaining scraps of dignity I had left. That remaining dignity was smashed to bits when the faunus began to beat me to a pulp. Every punch was aura infused, in turn letting me feel the sensation of my ribs breaking again. It felt like hours, but it was probably only minutes until the door to the windowless room opened. I remember growling a bit when I saw Cinder walk toward me.

Apparently, she has some plans for Beacon. Considering the distain in her voice when she mentioned that place. She wanted to see that school burn for some reason and saw an opportunity. She showed me the security footage of the night before when Pyrrha basically shattered our partnership. I wanted to look away but my head was kept in place by the bastard faunus that was beating me. after the video ended, Cinder gave me an offer. They would let me go and Cinder would train me herself on my off time. In turn, I would be their informant. I would smuggle information on students and potential weak points. I remember and still relish the look of confusion and anger on her face when I laughed at her offer. I started to howl with laughter when she said this. Did she really think I would just turn my back to everything that I've lived by? Honor? Integrity? She honestly thought I would just hand my friends over like that? I honestly found that prospect hilarious.

Due to my response. She believed that the bastard who was torturing me would help rethink my answer. Cinder leaving me alone with that Faunus was the start of a year of torture. How would I know? Because the bastard made me count the days and the hours. If I messed up, there would go a fingernail via a rusty pair of pliers, and it only took five fingernails to get the gist that he wasn't joking. What followed was your traditional methods of inflicting the worst pain imaginable on a person. Electrocution, waterboarding, somedays the bastard would come in screaming, pissed off that something bad happened to him or something and take all of that aggression out on me. The one thing that was restricted though, was deforming me. Scars were open game but crippling me would take the fun out of what he did, not only that, apparently my aura had a healing factor that acted on its own, letting the fucker go one hundred percent when it came to beating me.

Which leads me to where I am now. Sitting in a pool of blood, piss, shit, with welts all over my face. Whoever that faunus is, I think they call him Banesaw, he decided to put a box of rapier wasps on my head after slathering my face with forever fall tree sap. Nevertheless, that didn't stop him from landing a few blows to my face. I could hear the rising frustration in his voice as he punched me, most likely unsatisfied with the lack of any sound coming from me. Still didn't stop him though.

He was about to punch me again until the door opened and the bright light of the outside almost blinded me. I could hear the sound of disgust coming from someone that I couldn't put my finger on and decided not to dwell on it, that is until she spoke up.

"I'm gone for a year and this is what becomes of you." I didn't need to look up to know that it was Cinder talking. I did know that she was keeping her distance due to the lack of footsteps that I was hearing. I didn't give the bitch the satisfaction of replying. Instead, I kept looking down at my tattered jeans along with my frail body. My muscles were almost shriveled and I could see the outline of my bones. The only thing keeping me alive at this point was my aura and it was starting to do a shitty job. "Can't say that I'm surprised though, I've seen the reports," still no response from me as I kept my mouth shut. I could hear her take a few more steps toward me and she lifted my head so I could see her shit eating grin that was plastered on her face. "And it's a shame that you didn't take my offer. You would have been an exemplary lap dog." she let go of my chin and pulled out her scroll, shuffling through a few files and grinned a bit while looking at me. "But since I can be known for my generosity," here we go again, she really thinks that I will take any offer she throws at me? "I will give you another choice." Banesaw grabbed me by the hair and yanked my head up and my eyes were now on her scroll that showed images of my friends. Looks like she has been keeping tabs on all of them. "Just submit, become my informant, and maybe they won't have to suffer as much for what I have planned for them." she shuffled through the photos and I couldn't help but widen my eyes as I saw an image of Pyrrha flash across the screen. She was in her uniform with her hair tied back as always. It had been a year since I had seen her and for some reason, I felt tears stream down my face. What's funny is that I had no idea why. There was no longing to be with her, there was no hatred, no frustration, just a feeling, for the first time in a year, a feeling of relief. I saw Cinder notice this and her smile grew even more. She once more grabbed my chin and pulled me close to her, inches away from her face. "Say the word, and you can go back to her." I looked down for a moment and closed my eyes. A sigh escaped my lips which got a chuckle out of Banesaw, thinking that he finally got a reaction out of me.

That sigh wasn't one of submission, it was one of scrapping together every ounce of my aura I had left into my forehead. With a quick breath I slammed my head into Cinders face, making sure that I aimed at the bridge of her nose and not her forehead. Despite her aura, I could hear the sound of bone and cartilage cracking along with a sharp cry coming from her. I reveled in her pain for a few moments before my head was yanked up by Banesaw. A knife was pressed against my throat and a look of anger was apparent on his face. If this was my time, then I decided to have some fun with it. I hocked up all the blood and saliva I had in my mouth and spat it all in that bastard's face. The kicker was that he was actually shocked for a few moments, dumbfounded by my act of defiance mixed with stupidity. His shock morphed into rage and he reeled the blade back, aiming for my forehead.

"Stop." we heard her say calmly, but anger was apparent in her voice. She held her hand below her chin, in order for her blood to stop dripping. She then glared at me and let out a sigh, most likely to compose herself. "Banesaw, tell Adam to get it." I heard a stifled protest from the faunus and all she needed to do to put him in his place was give him a look. For the life of me I saw fire brimming from her eyes as she looked to him. He quickly made his way out the door, leaving me with the almighty bitch.

"You shouldn't ha-" I interrupted by letting out a tired groan.

"Oh shu uuuup" I slurred. The swellness in my jaws hadn't gone down from the time Banesaw ripped my molars out with his hands and the welts from the wasps weren't helping. "You honely thin I give a shi'?" I know she could barely understand me but my message was clear. She remained silent until Banesaw came back with a suitcase. I decided it was time to just hang my head and accept what was coming. I heard the unclasping of the case and for some reason, began to hear what sounded like a hissing noise. Fucking curiosity got the better of me and I saw that Cinder had pulled a white glove with a black design from the case. She seemed satisfied with my confusion and smirked a bit at me. Sadism was apparent in her smirk and this made me shrink a bit. Once she wrapped the glove around her hand, she gave me a look that brimmed with fire.

"You are really going to regret not taking my offer." she sneered. Whatever she had on her hand now was beginning to creep me out as I saw it begin to move. As a defense mechanism or something of the sort, I began to lean away from it. Whatever it was, it made my aura tingle, basically begging for me to stay the hell away from that thing. Cinder didn't hesitate as she chuckled a bit and held her hand out. I couldn't help but gasp as what I would call a monster squeal a bit at me and latch to my face. What proceeded next was the most unimaginable pain I have felt, period.

My hands began to seize in their restraints and my body jerked back and forth as the fucking thing began to slither its way down my throat. The feeling of throwing up was apparent to say the least and I felt whatever that thing was congest around my chest. Screaming was a fruitless effort as all that came out of my mouth was black bile and gargled cries of pain. Cinder seemed to be enjoying the little show I was giving her but was cut short by her picking up her scroll and leaving without warning. The shaking in my chair reached a tipping point and I fell to the floor, still strapped to the chair. My tears began to mix with the dark liquid escaping my mouth and completely out of nowhere, the pain in my chest exploded. My aura felt like it was being skinned off my body and replaced with kerosene. In a matter of seconds, I was in a mixture of screaming and sobbing, basically begging for this nightmare to end. I saw that Banesaw was reveling in mirth at my situation and that sadistic fuck's grin only seemed to make my blood boil more than it already was. Before I could move any more than I already was, I felt something crack. Not my bones, not my organs, but it felt like my soul was snapped in half. I screamed through the bile as the burning intensified and with one last gargled roar, I felt my aura spring to life for one last moment before nothing. Everything went black.

I couldn't say how long I was out, long enough though to bore Banesaw due to his absence in the room I was currently face down in. One thing was apparent though, everything hurt. This wasn't me being funny either. It felt as if every muscle in body was torn and breathing was a trial in of in itself. Whatever that thing was that Cinder forced down my throat did a number on me that's for sure. I decided then and there that I never want to go through that again.

A silver lining to all of this was that there was no one in this room. It was just me, and from what I could hear, I was the only one in the vicinity, wherever this was. Throughout my time in this shithole, I could hear people outside moving around. It was faint, but nonetheless, there was always something to occupy my ears. Now? Dead silence. Did they think I was dead and just left me? Was Cinder satisfied? For some reason, these questions filled my head as I laid face down in a combination of my blood, piss, and shit, all while still being tied to my chair. Tears began to stream down my face once more and despite the pain that erupted all over, my shoulders began to buckle as chocked sobs escaped my mouth. Day in and day out I did my best to bottle up my pain and focus on what was happening before me. I never thought about rescue, considering that for all I know that I was no longer a leader, the concept of my team saving me was slim and I actually saved myself the trouble of having that hope shattered. Even so, being left alone, with a silence that was almost deafening, it shook me to think that this was what would do me in. That this silence was the straw that broke the Goliath's back. My cries grew louder and louder as I started to pray to any omnipotent being that was out there to just end it.

Throughout this entire fucking year of torture, no prayer was answered. Not until today, but not in the way I expected. Instead of feeling the almost welcoming embrace of death, I was greeted by the door opening once more. Fear shot through my body as my eyes squinted once more and my muscles tensed up, bracing for whatever pain would come my way.

"By the gods." I opened my eyes when I heard that voice break the silence. Slow footsteps soon followed and I could feel the small splashes of my excretions brush my hair as whoever was in the room was standing over me. Despite being downright terrified of who the person above me was, I forced myself to look up and open my eyes. There was no Banesaw, there was no White Fang, and there was no Cinder. Instead, there was a man and I could only see his silhouette. Military? I couldn't tell. I could see him set his rifle against the wall and headed straight toward me. In seconds, I could feel the restraints on my wrists and ankles be released. There was no strength left within me as I let my limbs lay flat on the disgusting floor. A sigh escaped my lips and I saw the man turn back to me. I could see his blue boots by my face once more and he then crouched down to me. I saw his face and all I could see was a shocked man. Middle aged, blonde hair, with an eyepiece of some sort on the right side of his face. "Holy shit." The man then said and immediately brought me to my feet, not that I could feel them anyway. What I could feel though was my heart pounding against my chest as he carried me out of that hellhole. I let out a grunt as the light directly hit my face and I felt a chill go down my spine due to the sudden warmth.

"Mercy! I NEED YOUR HELP!" I heard the man scream. It didn't bother me in the slightest. What did peak my interest was that when we got to the open courtyard of the compound, I could see so many soldiers. Not White Fang. No, these guys were professionals. Blue, black, and orange decorated their armor as they patrolled the area. I don't think they noticed, but I could see their looks of shock and disgust as I was carried past them. It was probably the smell that got to them.

"Mein Gott." I slowly craned my head forward and saw a blonde woman in front of me. Older than me, but not by that much. And did she have wings. Faunus? Even if I wanted to struggle against her, it was fruitless as she called for a stretcher. Moments later, I was put on the stretcher and I could feel myself sink into the cushions. That was it for me. I heard nothing more after that as my eyelids grew heavy and I finally succumbed to my fatigue.

3d person POV

"Is he?" Jack Morrison asked as he looked at the elder man on the stretcher with baited breath. Angela Ziegler rushed to the man's side and checked his pulse. A sigh of relief escaped her lips and she looked up to Jack with a soft smile.

"He's unconscious." Angela said. Jack quickly let relief flow through him and noticed that Angela's face returned back to its seriousness. "But things will get worse if he doesn't get any medical attention." Jack nodded at this and turned back to the squad that was waiting around the courtyard of the compound. "You heard the woman!" Jack barked and his troops came to attention. "Get this poor bastard in the Orca ASAP!" Jack said as he pointed to the stretcher.

"YES SIR!" was the only reply he received and he saw the unit rush the man to the orca a few dozen feet away. The commander let out a small sigh of relief once he received word that the man was secured and Mercy was beginning diagnostics on him. He felt the ground beneath him quake ever so slightly and looked up with a smirk on his face. "Had fun there Reinhardt?" the massive crusader marched towards Jack and the commander could hear the boisterous laughter.

"HahahaHA! Of course, my friend!" Reinhardt replied as he set his hammer down and removed his helmet, revealing an older man with a scar going down his left eye. The man smiled at Jack and gave him a playful slap on the back. "Those White Fang never stood a chance. The men did their jobs well too. Overall, a success if I do say so myself." Jack nodded at this and looked out over the compound that they overtook. Smoke trailed through some of the buildings and the area was vacant of all White Fang. There were no prisoners however, either they retreated or were killed in the firefight. Despite this success however, Jack couldn't help but think back to that room that held that old man. So many questions clouded his head, he almost didn't notice the blue streak that just came into his peripheral vision.

"Oxton." Jack said with a smirk and the cadet giggled while saluting her commander. Jack noticed she was carrying something in her free arm but decided not to dwell on it. "At ease. How are the interiors of the buildings?" the commander asked and Lena pulled out her scroll and showed a map of the compound.

"Vacant to say the least, but they couldn't leave fast enough to extract their information. Winston is working on getting the information as we speak. Mei is currently putting out the last fire as well." Jack nodded at this and put his index finger to his earpiece.

"Morrison to Amari, to you read?" he spoke and the two operatives that were in front of him simply waited patiently.

"This is Amari." Jack smirked when he heard that familiar voice that always seemed to calm him down. "What's your status?" Jack smirked some more as Reinhardt gave him a thumbs up.

"Mission was a success. The compound was wiped out and we are downloading the info that could pinpoint Adam Taurus's location. We even picked up a prisoner of theirs. Mercy is treating him as we speak." Jack looked back to the Orca and hoped that whoever that was would survive whatever he went through.

"Sounds good Jack," Ana said on the other end of the line. "We'll be waiting for all of you to get back safely." Jack chuckled at this and nodded.

"Whatever you say Ana." Jack replied and ended the call. He was about to head back to the Orca until the object that was in Lena Oxton's hands caught his attention. It was a wrapped, black bag that looked as if it housed a rifle. "Tracer," the commander said while pointing to the bag. "What is that?" the cadet jumped a bit at the sudden question and handed the bag to the commander.

"I found this in their armory. Already scanned for booby traps or anything that could cause harm and the scanner came up clear." Lena said as she took a step back out of caution. This caused the commander to give her a blank stare while Reinhardt let out a hearty laugh. After rolling his eyes, Jack zipped open the bag and what he saw next forced him to go rigid. The other two operatives saw his sudden shock. Confusion took a hold of the two as their commander remained still and slowly pulled out a sword and sheath.

"OH HO!" Reinhardt said with surprise. "A true warrior uses a sword like that!" he followed up his statement with another round of laughter, but grew silent as Morrison said nothing. He removed the sword from its sheath and stared at the blade, not once relaxing his wide eyes. As if on instinct, the commander pressed a button on the sheath and a kite shield expanded. Jack's eyes never left the two arcs that decorated the front of the shield and his hands began to shake.

"Commander?" Lena asked and she received no response. Instead the commander sheathed the weapon and collapsed the shield, all while sprinting towards Winston's location. Shock and confusion overtook Reinhardt and Lena as they took off after him. Lena's blink was still recharging so she had to stay with Reinhardt, all while wondering what made the commander baffled.

"Winston!" they heard Jack shout as they turned the corner of the info stockade. "Sitrep on download!" there was a sense of urgency in his voice and as the two entered the room where their commander was, they could see the confusion on the gorilla's face and the two operatives shrugged their shoulders when he gave them a questioning glance.

"It just finis-!" Winston couldn't help but feel surprised as the commander rushed to the computer and began to scan through the files. Silence engulfed the room for a few moments as everyone was beyond bewildered at Morrison's behavior. The frantic searching stopped as they saw the commander take a step back. Curiosity got the better of all of them and they looked to see what Jack had found, in all honesty, they wished they could block from their memory what laid before them.

It was security camera footage of a man brutally beating a blonde boy. The prisoner's shirt was gone and they could see the scars and blood all over the blonde's body. The savage noises coming from both parties erupted as Morrison turned on the sound and Reinhardt noticed the shocked look on the commander's face when they heard the blonde scream.

"Wait, is that Jaune Arc?!" Winston exclaimed as he took control of the computer and zoomed in on the boy's face. Morrison said nothing to this as Reinhardt lowered his head. Lena on the other hand was confused beyond belief.

"Who?" she asked and Winston sighed while rubbing his glasses. Reinhardt looked to their cadet and then to the gorilla who nodded.

"Jaune Arc vent missing about a year ago. The last time he vas seen was in Vale and one night he just disappeared." Lena folded her arms and winced a bit as she saw more of the footage that included Jaune getting one of his thumbnails ripped off by the White Fang grunt all while the screams were apparent. Reinhardt winced and looked towards the commander with a soft look. "Vhy this matters is that Jaune is the commander's nephew." Lena's eyes widened as she looked back to the screen and seeing the resemblance. "Vemember zat search and rescue mission that the commander was deployed on about a year ago?" Lena nodded and knew where this was going. "That was a request from his sister. Maria Morrison, to find her son." The room grew silent as the only thing occupying it now were the shallow breaths coming from Jaune on the monitor. Everyone noticed their commander's fists tighten with anger and he looked at their leading scientist.

"Winston, give me the latest file ent-!" the commander was cut off when a call came into his headset and his visor showed that it was Angela. "Angela, something ha-!"

"We need to move now!" Angela exclaimed over him and Morrison almost reeled back at the frantic but stern tone of her voice. "The man you brought in is going into critical condition! We need to leave now if he's going to survive." Jack silently cursed as he nodded at this and hung up the call but not before assuring her they were moving out.

"Take the files and tell everyone that we are moving out." Morrison said sternly and Winston handed him the flash drive containing the data that he needed. Lena and Reinhardt saluted him and did as they were told while the commander stood still for a moment, Crocea Mors in his hand.

"Commander," Winston started, do you think he…" the cold glare the gorilla received was enough to make him go silent and Morrison let out a sigh soon after.

"Let's just get to the ship. We'll see what else is on this and then we can think about what we can do about Jaune." Jack replied coldly and Winston nodded at this.

The two headed off and after about a few minutes of silence, they rendezvoused back to the Orca with the rest of their operatives present. Once the Orca was off the ground and heading back towards their HQ, a small island off the coast of Vale, Commander Morrison headed towards the cockpit where Winston was, piloting the airship. Morrison sat in the seat next to the gorilla and sent out a call to Ana. After a few moments, a live feed of a woman who certainly looked aged and yet retained her youthful look appeared with a questioning glance.

"Jack?" Ana asked. Concern was apparent in her voice as the commander looked downtrodden. "Is something the matter?" The commander quickly waved over Lena and Reinhardt and as they came up to the monitor, Ana couldn't help but smile as she saw her hammer wielding friend.

"We have a lead on Jaune Arc." Morrison said with a flat and gruff voice. The captain was thrown a bit off guard at this sudden revelation and before she could say anything, Morrison pressed a few keys on the control panel. "Sending you the feed now." before Ana could say anything, Jack saw her look of disgust and horror as she lay witnessed to the torture that his nephew went through.

"Oum Almighty." Ana said as Morrison nodded while folding his arms. "Did you find a body?" she asked with some fear underlying in her voice. Morrison shook his head in response.

"We did find a prisoner however, if he makes it, we may be able to get a location. In the meantime, I will keep searching through the files." Ana nodded in response and looked down slightly.

"Keep me posted." she muttered before ending the call and the commander nodded while sighing just a bit. With another breath of resolve, the commander along with his two operatives behind him, opened the files once more and Reinhardt put a thumb to his chin.

"Perhaps seeing the latest entry vill be beneficial." the crusader offered and Morrison looked at his friend with a soft smirk, nodding after. The commander scrolled through the countless updates on Jaune and his eyes widened slightly as he came across the final entry, entry three-hundred sixty-six.

"He was there the whole time." Winston stated firmly and Morrison nodded begrudgingly. Lena put her hands to her mouth and Reinhardt once again, lowered his head.

"And that was only twelve hours ago." Morrison stated while mentally screaming how close they were to finding him. With a breath of reassurance, he pressed on the icon to play the video and they all winced as the footage started with the harsh noise of Jaune being beaten once more. To make sure they were the only ones who were hearing this, the commander turned the volume down exponentially. The video continued on until something different happened. A woman that none of them had ever seen appeared on the screen and despite the questions that were being thrown out, Morrison kept a close eye on her. She held Jaune's head up and Morrison couldn't help but feel the rage rise within him as he saw this occur. Whoever this woman was, she was going to feel the full force of what he had to offer. a sense of satisfaction overflowed him though as all of them saw the boy smash his head into the woman.

"That kid was always tenacious." Morrison said with a sad smile on his face. He could see Ana matching his tone but he noticed her hint of optimism. Everyone went silent with a terrified feeling as they saw the burly faunus about to stab him. Before that could happen he was stopped by the woman. With baited breath and a sense of sadness, they saw the small conversation between Jaune and the woman, including Jaune's lack of tact in telling her to fuck herself. Jack waited patiently as they saw what happened next.

Morrison shot up from his seat with anger apparent in his eyes once he saw that thing wrapped around the woman's glove and Ana had the same reaction if not a little fearful. No one said anything due to the confusion of not knowing what that thing was. It was then that the commander collapsed in his seat as the parasite latched onto Jaunes face. What happened next was about ten minutes of gargled screaming as the operatives watched in horror at what happened to Jaune.

"Parasite." Jack growled with ferocity and Winston only nodded in agreement. Reinhardt shuddered slightly while Lena remained confused. Before she could ask anything though, a noise of confusion came from their commander. With their attention back onto the screen, they noticed that they had just left Jaune there to rot in his own blood. Jaunes body remained still for a while and Winston decided to speed up the feed just a bit, considering that there was twelve hours left on the feed. That was when their confusion morphed into bewilderment as they saw his aura dissipate from his body, as if it evaporated.

"By the gods." Winston said as he watched on wide eyed, from what they could see, it was as if Jaune's aura had given up, as if a piece of him was lost forever. They continued to watch and after about a minute, Lena raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Is it just me, or is he… withering?" Lena asked and the commander looked on, trying to see what she was talking about. Needless to say, she was right as they could see his skin sag just a bit and his hairline began to recede and turn white. What came next made the commander's heart cringe as they all heard the cries of despair come from Jaune. He didn't sound human at that point, after a year of that it didn't surprised the commander, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt seeing his nephew in that situation.

"Commander, isn't that you?" Lena asked as they saw the door open and Morrison entered into the room. Jack went rigid as he saw this and once again shot up from his seat, this time bolting to the med bay of the Orca. The other operatives sans Winston followed suit and they were surprised to see Morrison move that fast.

"Mercy!" Jack screamed, causing the doctor to jump a bit. "I need a name, NOW!" despite the frantic attitude, Mercy calmly walked over to her monitors that she had installed on the Orca and grinned a bit.

"The D.N.A. samples just finished." Angela replied with a calm demeanor and she clicked on the icon to show the results. The doctor became confused while everyone else's heart sank with dread.

"Jaune Arc?" Angela asked out loud. "That's impossible." There was confusion and disbelief in her voice as she looked at the results. "It says that he's only seventeen." Angela turned back and saw that Lena and Reinhardt were looking at the commander who was right next to the older man that was resting.

"I can't believe this." the commander said with a shaky voice. He didn't show his subordinates, but tears dripped onto the bed that Jaune was resting on. It was him. Parasites were known for having unique ways of destroying aura and leaving the host in a state of agony. But this, this was cruel on so many levels. First the torture, then the parasite scalping him of his aura, and finally not even having the courtesy of ending it and giving him some god damn peace. "It was a parasite that did this." Morrison didn't need to see that Mercy's eyes bulged. "We just saw the video footage of him turn into who he is now. The commander placed his hand on Jaunes and gave it a gentle squeeze. "This is Jaune Arc."

There was a silence among the few operatives that were aware of the new situation on the Orca and before they could say anything, Morrison turned to Mercy and they noticed a sense of resolve in his eyes. "Do everything you can to help him." Jack said and Mercy nodded. The commander was about to head out of the med bay until he saw Jaune mumble in his sleep a bit. With a sigh he went back to the monitor where Winston and Ana were waiting patiently, but with fearful looks. All he needed to do was nod to make Ana gasp and Winston lower his head. Morrison slumped in his seat and removed the flash drive from the computer.

"He survived." Morrison muttered and he could see the shocked look on Ana's face. "Mercy is going to do whatever she can to help him when he wakes up. Despite not having aura and his accelerated aging, we can still help." Ana raised an eyebrow as she looked at Jack with skepticism.

"What are you going on about?" Ana asked. "We have to notify Vale about this. Beacon. His pare-"

"If that woman found out that he was still alive, she would come after him to tie up loose ends. Bringing him out to the public will only put him in danger." Morrison stated while looking at his subordinate. "We're taking him back to base." He then pulled out his scroll and shifted through a few files.

"And then what?" Ana asked and Morrison sighed while looking at a specific file that read "The Seventy-Six initiative."

"Something that should have been done a while ago." Morrison said sternly and ended the call.

 **So yeah… that was my initial idea for this story and due to some events that transpired at the time, I got a little angry and changed it to a darker story. If anyone wants to use this as inspiration for their own story, go for it. This was just a rough idea that was residing in my head and I thought I should share this with you all and how Reaping with Sorrow truly came to be. Alright I'm done for now. Shout out to SunWukongMogar for helping me out. Drop a review or a comment if you like and check out my other work if you like Jaune crossover stories and as always, BE COMPASSIONATE AND BE FIERCE!**

 **SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!**


	32. IMPORTANT UPDATE

**I will be nothing but honest here,**

 **I have lost the drive to write this story. It is completely gone. Do I like this revelation? Absolutely not. I enjoy Reaping with Sorrow. It was an outlet to get my aggression out of my system and it was a major factor in teaching me many things about writing, fanfiction, and feedback. There were times I slipped up or times where readers were not satisfied with my work, and that is fine, this story is not perfect. However, everyone who has read my story deserves one-hundred percent of my effort in each chapter I publish and if that drive isn't there, then none of you should be subjected to half-assed superficial B.S. that I see this story going towards.**

 **Besides that, things outside of writing have been too hectic to even focus on one story let alone four that I am working on, and that is my fault for giving myself that work load. Managing time has been difficult and it is only going to get harder as the semester progresses. School is top priority at the moment, but that doesn't mean that I am going to stop writing altogether.**

 **Which leads me to my final decision. This story is not going to progress any further. The characters have been warped beyond repair, there isn't enough effort in my original characters, the pacing is all over the place, and my overall theme hasn't even been established yet. These are only just a few examples, but the impact they have on my writing is starting to take its toll. So, while this story will not progress, it doesn't mean that this story is technically dead. Sometime during the late spring or early summer, I am planning to release a reboot of this story. This has been a tough decision to make but I believe that a reboot with the skills I've learned and a solid plan is much better than the verbal vomit I've been spewing. In the past, I haven't been true to my word when it comes to release dates and some doubt will most likely be prevalent, I just hope that you all can trust me and that I can trust myself in this endeavor. Thank you all for enjoying this story and as always, be fierce.**

 **SparkyDapperDab19 Signing Off**


	33. REBOOT IS HERE

NEW REBOOT IS HERE! CHECK PROFILE TO ACCESS STORY!


End file.
